“Caught Stealing” (2025) is this week’s large ensemble crime thriller that wants to be the next Guy Ritchie, Quentin Tarantino, Matthew Vaughn film. Director Darren Aronofsky’s latest film adapts Charlie Huston’s 2004 novel, which is the first of three books that feature Henry “Hank” Thompson as the protagonist. Screenwriter Huston was a writer and producer of “Gotham” so use that to determine whether this movie is for you. If I had known before going to the movie, I would have correctly predicted whether I was the right audience for this film. (Hint: I tapped out after the first season). Austin Butler plays Hank, a former California high school baseball state champion with good prospects until he did not. After eleven years in New York, Hank is a bartender and a functioning alcoholic with zero situational awareness. Set in 1998 New York, Hank reluctantly agrees to watch his next-door neighbor’s cat, Bud (the magnificent Tonic, “Pet Sematary”), unaware that he would get pulled into an underground world of killers and drug dealers who will change his life forever.
The raison d’etre of “Caught Stealing” is for Hank to stop running away, face his problems, especially his past, and get his groove back. He is obsessed with baseball, but allegedly not living up to his full potential though explain to everyone else, including this straitlaced author, how finding an apartment in Manhattan close to your job, which he loves along with his boss and coworkers, while having a hot paramedic girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), is not living the dream. Basically, being in the wrong place at the wrong time forces him to face the consequences of his past mistakes, stop self-medicating and get over his phobias such as driving a car. Butler is fine in the role, but the level of disbelief that needs to be suspended to go with the flow of this story is Herculean namely all the physical feats that he engages in only days after a nephrectomy, i.e. the removal of a kidney. Forget dodging a Benetton array of gangsters. Sitting up in bed should be his enemy. Butler clearly worked hard for this physically demanding role.
Yes, “Caught Stealing” is just a movie and is not meant to be realistic, but it is realistic about human biology when it wants to be and not when it does not. The actual story demands that a whole lot of people die for Hank to get home safe and get out of his funk. There is “A Prayer for Owen Meany” quality to the story where things seem arbitrary but are not; however, it does not have that same cohesive spiritual cathartic climax regardless of how many times Hank stares into the ocean (two, eyeroll). It comes close at the climax when the identity of the killer is revealed, and it is a full circle moment tied to the cause of Hank’s underlying issues.
“Caught Stealing” is also a narrative that bandies around a lot of annoying tropes. The first person to die is Black and was possibly wearing red (booooooo, tomato, tomato). A love interest gets fridged. Hank is mistaken as the chief suspect in a lot of crimes. Blame Marvel for my lack of patience with that one. A single trope is not damning, but as the strikes keep coming, at some point the movie is out. Also, who lives in Manhattan for eleven years and does not understand the basic rules of big city living? Never open the apartment door. Don’t talk to your neighbors. Mind your business. Don’t look through the peephole unless the lights are out, and the shades are drawn. Follow me for more home security tips that I acquired when I could barely reach the locks, but engaged them anyway.
Does that mean “Caught Stealing” is a bad movie? No, it just is not original and is not as rightly constructed as it needs to be. It feels as if Huston is trying to hone his inner James Gunn with the inclusion of animals in their human’s lives and how it sparks off the chain of events. People do dumb things for the love of animals, and Hank runs into his first problem when he tries to get food for Bud. A lizard inspires Hank’s boss, Paul (Griffin Dunne), to be reckless, but is mistaken.
If narrative imperfections are not a deal breaker, there are a plethora of fine performances from renown actors at the top of their game. If there is a role that requires a bad ass Jewish man, Liev Schreiber is getting first pass, and he is paired with Vincent D’Onofrio and a side of Carol Kane. They are worth the price of admission. If “Caught Stealing” just focused on them lovingly menacing Hank, that would have been cinema. Regina King expands an already impressive repertoire playing Narcotics Detective Elise Roman. Even when her character’s motives are revealed, Roman still surprises. Kravitz does her thing (and see “Blink Twice” because she is more than the latest hot actor, but also an amazing writer and director). Though not a bad actor, Matt Smith is often a harbinger of the quality of the movie and does not restrict himself to just taking good movie roles. He is more of a television man, and he also plays somewhat against type in this movie. As Russell “Russ” Miner, the punk neighbor next door in mourning, he is not doing his usual tough guy schtick, which may be one of the biggest surprises in the film. Stay as the credits roll to finally see which actor plays Hank’s mother.
Though less well known, other actors made a meal out of the morsel in the screentime allotted to them. George Abud offers reliable comedic relief as another next-door neighbor, Duane, who seems to exist to complain and insist on his street cred. Dunne makes Paul into a sympathetic, dissolute figure despite encouraging Hank to engage in behavior that could kill him. Dominique Silver, who was profiled as herself in “Kokomo City” (2023), plays Lisa, who is almost always next to Paul at his dive bar in a blink and miss it, almost no line role. You probably will not recognize the following two actors because their scenes are brief though pivotal. D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, who is part Guyanese and starred in “Warfare” (2025) and “Hell of a Summer” (2023), is unrecognizable in the flashbacks as Hank’s fellow high school baseball player and riding buddy, Dale. Remember Tenoch Huerta who impressed everyone after appearing as Namor in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” (2022). He plays the last onscreen bartender. In “Caught Stealing,” bartenders are supposed to be the coolest cats, so it is not as harsh a comedown as it sounds, but still…All these actors are easy to take for granted since they are in the background, yet they quietly lay the bricks that build the foundation for this universe.
There is a bull in a China shop or near Chinatown. Nikita Kukushkin plays Microbe, the Russian mob enforcer who terrifies Hank for most of the film. He favors getting on all fours then butting people in the stomach with his head. It sounds silly, but that nephrectomy is thanks to him. When people think of the villain, they are not going to think of two burly Hassidic men, the cop or Bad Bunny’s bewigged Colorado. They will think of Microbe’s unrelenting, enthusiastic attacks.
If you want to know how Hank got his groove back and stopped running away from his life to be worthy of Yvonne, check out “Caught Stealing,” but only for the colorful performances. The narrative flow and logic feel cobbled together with other people’s visions without having a center. If you can only see one movie that displays the contradictory majesty and grittiness of New York in a riveting sequence that takes place on a New York City subway after a baseball game ends, the movie to see is Spike Lee’s “Highest 2 Lowest” (2025) even with that flawed first act. Sorry, Aronofsky.
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Why tell him not to call the cops if the chief investigator is in their pocket? A better line would have been, “The cops cannot help you.” It is true and still intimidating. What is the point of teaching someone a lesson if they don’t know who did the first 1998 killing? Hitting someone in the head with a baseball bat has mortal consequences but Hank running around and getting beaten up has no serious consequences other than sobriety? Getta outta here.
