Burned-out ex-baseball player Hank Thompson unexpectedly finds himself embroiled in a dangerous struggle for survival amidst the criminal underbelly of 1990s New York City, forced to navigate a treacherous underworld he never imagined.
Chuck says:
If there was ever a “Your Mileage May Vary” movie, it’s Darren Aronofsky’s “Caught Stealing.” While it’s being promoted as a dark comedy – and it is funny at times – the director leans into the violent nature of this chase film far too often. The result is a whiplash experience, one in which you’re chortling one minute and gasping the next, the switch in tones at times so sudden, it leaves the viewer unsure as to just what is going on.
The efforts of star Austin Butler keep us hanging on until the bloody end, the vulnerability he brings to lovable loser Hank Thompson having us in the character’s corner from the start. A high school baseball phenom whose career was cut short by an auto accident, he now tends bar in New York City, circa 1997. He’s going nowhere fast but doesn’t seem to mind as long as Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz), a paramedic who looks past his flaws, is by his side.
He makes an innocent mistake one day when he agrees to look after his neighbor Russ’ (Matt Smith) cat. This leads to a series of misunderstandings when Hank is mistaken for his absent friend by the mobster Colorado (Bad Bunny) and his goons. Seems Russ is in possession of $4 million and this wannabe hood wants it.
Problem is, he’s not the only one who wants the cash. Soon a pair of ruthless Jewish brothers, Lipa and Shmully (Live Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio) are on his tail as is the crooked cop Roman (Regina King). Hank finds himself on the run, with no one to turn to, getting battered and bruised whenever one or the other of his pursuers catch him. Fortunately, he’s good at escaping again and again.
A word of warning – don’t get attached to any of the characters. This is a cruel world Aronofsky plunges us into in which life is cheap, and death is harsh. As a result, the attempts at humor often clash with the mayhem on display. Some of the laughs work – Hank being taken to the brothers’ home for a Jewish meal is a delight – while at other times, they come off as cheap attempts to get a chuckle.
Still and all, Butler and the rest of the cast are great. There’s been so much talk lately about the absence of true movie stars, but Butler is the real deal. His boyish persona is impossible to resist while his ability to humanize his characters is appealing. You can’t take your eyes off him, and his co-stars benefit from being in the aura of his glow. Were it not for him and the rest of the cast, this would be an insufferable exercise.
As it is, “Caught Stealing” is a bit of an outlier in Aronofsky’s filmography in his attempting to use humor with his nihilistic sensibility. It stands to reason the maker of “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Wrestler” and “The Whale,” would have a sense of humor of the blackest sort. It’s hard to find anything funny in a cruel world but he should be given points for trying.
3 Stars
