Movie Review: Caught Stealing

Director Darren Aronofsky is not known for making “fun” movies. Rather, his oeuvre is filled with films that put their characters through immense suffering. Thanks to his talent behind the camera they are enjoyable to watch, or as much so as is possible given their often-bleak subject matter, but “fun” is clearly not his intent. That changes with his latest, Caught Stealing, where entertainment seems to have been at least one of the goals. Did he pull it off? Well, the script by Charlie Huston, based on his book of the same name, is certainly not afraid to go dark, and lead character Hank Thompson (a magnetic Austin Butler) is truly put through the wringer, but overall it is “fun”, or as much so as possible given Aronofsky’s style.

Hank is working as a bartender in 1990s New York City, perfectly captured here, and in an increasingly serious relationship with EMT Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), when a seemingly small favor is thrust upon him by his obnoxious neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) that gets him caught up in a convoluted plot involving various nefarious characters. All seem to be after a key that Russ was holding but which Hank of course knows nothing about, though he’s going to have to find it quick if he is to get himself and everyone around him out of danger.

If you’ve ever seen this kind of movie before, you already know more or less what to expect from it. That said, while Aronofsky and Huston don’t really bring anything new to the table, they execute it pretty perfectly. Butler proves more than capable of carrying a movie, though he does receive ample assistance from the slew of talented actors cast in the smaller roles.

Despite the familiar ground being trod by the script, the film does manage to genuinely surprise on a few occasions. Truly no one is safe here, which leads to enough shocking character exits to fill an entire season of Game of Thrones. While the plot requires Hank to at least make it to the finale, he is not immune from suffering either, getting banged up more convincingly than is usual for modern action movies that instead tend to have our leads behaving like superheroes, even when they’re supposed to be human.

Unlike Aronofsky’s other films there isn’t an obvious metaphor or message here that I can yet see, aside from perhaps remembering to buckle your seatbelt or learning to say “no”, but in a year that has been relatively weak as far as these type of violent capers are concerned, getting one that has been so thoughtfully made is a treat. Caught Stealing isn’t a paradigm-shifting contemporary classic, but it is visually striking, engagingly twisty, and often pretty “fun”. ★★★½