Our J.P. gives his take on Darren Aronofsky-directed “Caught Stealing,” starring Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, and Matt Smith.
Caught Stealing
Sony Pictures Releasing
- Directed by Darren Aronofsky
- Screenplay by Charlie Huston
- Based on Caught Stealing by Charlie Huston
- Produced by Jeremy Dawson, Dylan Goldeno, Ari Handel, Darren Aronofsky
- Starring Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, Griffin Dunne, Carol Kane
Studio Synopsis:
Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) was a high-school baseball phenom who can’t play anymore, but everything else is going okay. He’s got a great girl (Zoë Kravitz), tends bar at a New York dive, and his favorite team is making an underdog run at the pennant. When his punk-rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters. They all want a piece of him; the problem is he has no idea why. As Hank attempts to evade their ever-tightening grip, he’s got to use all his hustle to stay alive long enough to find out…
“Caught Stealing” is directed by Academy Award® nominee Darren Aronofsky, screenplay by Charlie Huston, based on his book of the same name. The film stars Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Benito Martínez Ocasio, Griffin Dunne, and Carol Kane.
J.P.’s Take:
Producer / director Darren Aronofsky’s latest outing, “Caught Stealing,” blends crime, comedy, and mystery and centering on Henry “Hank” Thompson (Austin Butler), a washed-up baseball player who finds himself entangled with dubious individuals in perilous circumstances. Aronofsky delivers a darkly humorous take on New York-style pulp fiction, as Hank’s failed baseball dreams and tragic past push him into a new life in New York, where he works at a bar and reminisces about his lost career through conversations with patrons.
The central tension of “Caught Stealing” emerges when Hank, unknowingly drawn in by his neighbor Russ (Matt Smith), becomes a target of Russian mobsters, ushering him into the deadly criminal underworld. As the yarn unravels, sadly, Hank not only spirals further down the rabbit hole of danger and despair, but leaves a wave of bodies in his wake, which is ultimately pinned on him. This includes his girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), as well as the close colleagues he has grown to know and care about. He becomes the perfect patsy as he faces one baddie after another, all the while deflecting suggestions of his unintentional misdeeds.
A key strength of Aronofsky’s films (“Requiem for a Dream,” “The Fountain,” “Black Swan,” “The Whale”) is his ability to immerse viewers in the characters’ lives and circumstances, often through charged dialogue and heightening tension with unpredictability, a similar style to Quentin Tarantino. A feature that’s prevalent here as well. Hank’s steely blue eyes and innocent childlike facial expressions give way to his lion-hearted fight against the odds, making for some spontaneous and zany antics. The script was penned by Charles Huston, who previously wrote the novel with the same title, which reinforces Hank’s determination to endure with symbolic baseball references, further solidifying his character.
Throughout his journey, he discovers whom he can trust and whom he cannot, all while seeking a path to redeem himself without causing any more deadly incidents. And fortunately, the cast remained committed to their roles, especially Regina King in her most gritty and hard-nosed part yet as Detective Elise Roman. Along with Bulter and King, the other cast members include Smith (as Russ Binder), Kravitz (Yvonne), Liev Schreiber (Lipa Drucker), Vincent D’Onofrio (Shmully Drucker), Benito A. Martinez Ocasio (Colorado), Griffin Dune (Paul), Carol Kane (Bubbe), Yuri Kolokolnikov (Aleksei), Nikita Kukushkin (Pavel), D’Pharaoh Woo-A-Tai (Dale), Will Brill (Jason), Action Bronson (Amtrak), George Abud (Duane), Tenoch Huerta (Tulum Bartender), McKinzie J. Scott (Hero Batter), Tonic (Bud the Cat), and an uncredited appearance by Laura Dern (playing Hank’s mother).
By the time this exhausting and outlandish crime / comedy romp was done, I had a ball. “Caught Stealing” is one of those excursions that made you root for the underdog — no matter how bad things got for him.
Official Site: Caught Stealing
