From “Black Swan” to “Requiem for a Dream,” Darren Aronofsky has made some excellent movies.
“Caught Stealing” isn’t one of them.
On paper, this should be one of my favorite movies of the year. A period-piece crime drama starring Austin Butler with a healthy sprinkling of baseball sounds right up my alley. The problem is the execution.
The film follows bartender Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), who gets pulled into the criminal underbelly of late ‘90s New York City. Ensemble performances from Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith and others round out one of the most stacked cast lineups of the year. Unfortunately, their talents are wasted.
Hank Thompson is an incredibly underwritten protagonist. His tragic backstory is periodically shown at very random moments in the movie. His life continually falls apart, and he’s rarely given a chance to reflect on or engage with what has happened to him. At one point, he essentially states out loud why his character is complex and nuanced.
The best movies engage in a practice called “show, don’t tell.” All “Caught Stealing” does is tell.
By the end of the film, the villains are little more than set pieces. We get glimpses of characters before being thrown back into the action. There’s no sense of what lesson is to be learned, no themes, no reason to remember this movie.
But let’s talk about what it does well.
The world feels very lived in. ‘90s New York feels present in every scene, and each passerby feels distinct. Austin Butler does his best to bring life to a character that should have none, and he does as well as anyone could’ve. Pretty much every actor here is doing an excellent job, and their efforts deserve a better film.
There are two genuine jaw-dropping twists in the first 40 minutes of the movie. It’s honestly impressive that I managed to go from interested to bored so quickly, but we’re talking about good stuff right now.
Bad Bunny is criminally underutilized and brings one of the most intimidating performances in the film. Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio have a fantastic dichotomy within their characters, shifting between menacing and welcoming at the flip of a switch.
Hank Thompson also never feels like he’s in control. The stakes feel high throughout, and there’s no third-act montage where the protagonist becomes the most skilled fighter in the city. He never feels like more than a regular dude. It’s refreshing to see someone not necessarily defeat the danger but escape it using the little leverage they can access.
So, is “Caught Stealing” good? I don’t really know. Austin Butler is good. The basics of the plot are good. But for every aspect I can think of that it does well, another thing it fumbles pops into my head. I can confidently say that it’s entertaining, even when it’s making some absolutely baffling creative decisions.
Casual cinemagoers will probably enjoy this more than I did, but for me, “Caught Stealing” is a messy, well-performed missed opportunity, and I’ll always imagine the all-timer we could’ve gotten instead.
