Austin Butler and Zoë Kravitz in Caught Stealing

Darren Aronofsky is not a filmmaker often given to making crowd-pleasing films—just the opposite, in fact—but a rare commercial spirit has seized him, and the result is Caught Stealing, a 90s nostalgic run-and-gun crime thriller featuring a cast of colorful characters. Writer Charlie Huston adapts from his own novel, and Aronofsky brings his character-driven sensibility to a freewheeling caper that is, admittedly, darker than expected. Caught Stealing is an answer to a question no one was asking, which is, “What if Darren Aronofsky made a Coen Brothers movie?”

Austin Butler stars as Hank Thompson, a never-was baseball prodigy whose promising high school career ended for reasons that unwind throughout the film. Now it’s the late 90s, cell phones are getting smaller but are not yet ubiquitous, “building websites” is a laughable job, and Rudy Giuliani is the mayor of New York City, which is slowly losing its fabled grittiness, though rough edges do persist. Hank is pushing 30, an alcoholic working at a downtown dive bar, and is in a situationship with the alluring Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), a paramedic who just wants Hank to “handle his sh-t”. Responsibility, however, is not Hank’s forte.

Caught Stealing is full of performances that are best described as “gems”. Besides Butler and Kravitz, the film features Griffin Dunne as Hank’s boss at the bar, an aging hippie who still has Vietnam-era anger and an 80s-era coke habit; Matt Smith as Russ, a loud-mouthed London punk not giving an inch to the encroaching yuppies gentrifying downtown; Regina King as shady cop Roman; Benito Martínez Ocasio as a literally colorful gangster named for his red hair; Carol Kane as a kindly but tough Bubbe; Nikita Kukushkin as Pavel, a memorably psychotic mobster; Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio as a pair of Hasidic brothers who also run a mob outfit; and Bud the Cat, played by the wildly charismatic scene-stealer Tonic. (No cat felonies are committed, only cat misdemeanors.)

Despite his sunny California good looks, Butler is believable as a down on his luck everyman, embittered by the loss of his athletic potential, afraid of commitment, and stuck in a cycle of addiction. When Russ leaves town, all of a sudden everyone wants some mysterious something, Hank doesn’t even know what, genuinely a victim of wrong place, wrong time, wrong friend. Overnight he’s up one cat and down one kidney, being threatened by seemingly every criminal outfit in the city, including corrupt cops. On top of all this, he has to manage his alcoholism cold turkey after having a ruptured kidney removed.

Caught Stealing moves at a frenetic pace, clocking in at just over 100 minutes, and the speed with which Hank’s already pretty crap life goes to utter sh-t just adds to the chaos of the film. It truly feels like the walls are closing in from all sides but Caught Stealing never gets bogged down in drama. This is firmly in the “crime thriller” camp, even though there are solid dramatic character beats as Hank attempts to wrestle at least some of his demons under control before he gets killed. Given the absurdity of the plot and the many compelling characters—all upstaged by the singular presence of Bud the Cat—Caught Stealing could also be classified as a crime caper, but in the Coen Brothers sense. It’s incredibly entertaining, yes, and has some funny bits, but darkness edges every frame. 

The action in Caught Stealing is also very good, ranging from shootouts to fist fights to car chases. The film’s pace never lets up, racing from one catastrophe to another as Hank’s chances of survival dwindle ever further. The film is not quite the sexy crime romp it’s advertised to be, but in exchange is a thriller that offers a depth of character not often seen in breezy crime movies. There is definitely a dumber version of this film that cashes in on the leads’ combined sex appeal but checks out on writing. Caught Stealing, though darker than expected, does not skimp on characterization, which makes the ending satisfyingly bittersweet. It feels like a 90s throwback not just because of its setting, but because of its style, its combination of plotting and acting and action. Caught Stealing is the kind of movie that used to get made all the time—smart, competent, fun, but still with some underlying oomph to sell the stakes. Now, it’s a nostalgic look back at once was, both for the city of New York, and cinema itself.

Caught Stealing will play exclusively in theaters from August 29, 2025.

 

(Note from Emily: we posted shots of the attractive trio Zoë, Benito, and Austin yesterday here, and I'm including more from the premiere below, including some of Tonic the Cat!)