Austin Butler is Henry "Hank" Thompson, a New York bartender and former baseball prodigy. When he and girlfriend Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz) are asked to keep an eye on Hank's neighbours cat, they end up in the crosshairs of Russian gangsters, Yiddish hitmen and "concerned" cops.
This may be more playful in tone than his usual fare, but this is still an Aronofsky film, so Hank is a man with an obsession, in this case baseball. His devotion to his beloved San Francisco Giants dictates his mood and is the foundation of his relationship with his equally obsessed mother, whom he calls every day to discuss their prospects with. Unfortunately, his enthusiasm is intrinsically linked to his own cut-short ball career and the ghost of what could have been is stopping him getting on in life, including holding him back from fully committing to Yvonne, and bleeds through into a problematic relationship with alcohol. His issues come to the fore when hen gets worked over by a couple of thugs looking for his neighbour, an impassioned English punk played with gusto by Matt Smith, and events spiral out of control. Things do take a little while to really get going, and are nearly completely derailed by a shocking moment at the end of act 1. Aronofsky may relish misery, but the twist punctures the momentum and feels jarring in a 2025 movie.
If you can get past that event, things start to become a lot of fun. It's a stressful kind of fun, almost reaching Uncut Gems level at times, but fun nonetheless. There's a funny running joke involving a yuppie neighbour and the various antagonists are scary and amusing in equal measure. Austin Butler gives a charismatic and nuanced performance as Hank. As the farce intensifies and the sharks circle ever closer, he seems more and more out of his depth but you can see his mind ticking under the surface as he plans to extricate himself from the impossible situation. He also does a good job of showing the necessary pain and turmoil of the troubled lead without ever bringing it so much to the fore as it overruns the story. 1998 New York looks great, with enough subtle period detail to give a sense a place without tripping into tedious nostalgia porn. Aronofsky's frenetic energy and rapid editing suit the story well, although he presents things in a cleaner, less trippy and more straightforward way than usual.
Caught Stealing works best when it's playing in the crime caper sandbox, with a compelling lead hurtling from one entertaining and seemingly inescapable conundrum to another. This doesn't always gel with the director's mean streak and need for pathos but when its in full flight its an absolute riot.
7 rubber fakes out of 10 cat poos.
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