Caught Stealing
Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) has seen better days. Getting by as a bartender in NYC, after agreeing to watch his neighbor Russ's (Matt Smith, "Last Night in Soho") cat Bud, the former high school baseball champ finds himself the target of a bunch of hot-headed gangsters who think he's been "Caught Stealing."
Laura's Review: B+
The "wrong man" movie has long been a staple of cinema, Alfred Hitchcock alone having delivered three classics of the genre ("The 39 Steps," "North by Northwest," "The Wrong Man"), with more recent examples including both the television series and movie version of "The Fugitive" and this year's French entry "Night Call." With "Caught Stealing," director Darren Aronofsky ("Black Swan," "The Whale") has delivered one of the most gut-wrenching entries in the genre, screenwriter Charlie Huston (adapting their book) showering their guilt-ridden protagonist with both violent and devastating emotional blows while a great ensemble still manages to stir up some fun in a grittier, 1998 New York City.
Hank is blessed with a loving mom who calls him frequently from their rural home town to bond over their love of the San Francisco Giants. He's also got a NYC girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), who he's crazy about and who wants to take the next step in their relationship. Yvonne recognizes that Hank drinks too much (he chugs a Miller Lite upon rising) and that that might have something to do with whatever he's running away from, the cause of the nightmares he frequently awakens from, but it will take several literal and figurative beatings before he recognizes just what she was getting at.
One night, as Hank and Yvonne arrive at his apartment, his neighbor Russ, a punk with tattoos, piercings and an extravagant Mohawk, burst out of his apartment insisting Hank take his cat as he has to leave for London immediately to see his sick dad. Hank protests, Duane (George Abud) from across the hall complains about the noise, but when Yvonne says she likes cats, Russ just bolts. But the next time Hank comes home, he's accosted by Pavel (Nikita Kukushkin) and Aleksey (Yuri Kolokolnikov), two aggressive Russian skinheads who demand to know where Russ is while beating Hank to a pulp. When Duane pops out to complain, Hank tells him to call the cops. Hank awakens in the hospital, Yvonne at his side, and learns he's had a severely damaged kidney removed. On the way back to his apartment, Yvonne informs him that among the things he can no longer consume is alcohol.
He'll also call the police. Detective Roman (Regina King) treats him with a mixture of suspicion and compassion, suggesting that the guys who came weren't the real problem, showing him a picture of two Hassidic Jews she describes as 'scary monsters,' saying he should call her if he sees them. Once she leaves he notices an oversized poop in Bud's litter box and, investigating, discovers it is a squeaky toy with a key inside. Thinking this may be what the thugs who beat him were after, he heads down to his bar to ask his boss Paul (Griffin Dunne) to put it in his safe. He also gets roaring drunk, pukes all over himself outside of his building, then strips before entering. Now he'll awaken to those same two thugs along with their boss Colorado (Benito Martínez Ocasi aka Bad Bunny), who shows him his gun, then interrogates him as Aleksey takes out surgery staples with pliers, telling Hank that if he doesn't deliver that key to him, every person close to him will meet a dreadful fate. And Pavel kicks Bud so severely, the cat is left limping once they leave.
Of course, Hank will soon find those 'scary monsters,' Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (Vincent D'Onofrio), at his door, kicking off a foot chase for the badly injured man that takes him all through the Lower East Side and Chinatown, managing to evade them, but nothing is what it seems and allegiances break and reform as bodies begin to pile up and Hank gets increasingly backed into a corner. We'll also learn just what has been haunting him, Aronofsky teasing out a bit more information with each nightmare until the entire scenario comes into view, foreshadowing a desperate, emotionally triggered ploy in Hank's future. Throughout his ordeal, the cat he never wanted to take care of will become his primary concern.
In the press notes, Aronofsky expresses his love for the New York City he lived in while working to get his first feature, "Pi," off the ground and he has recreated it beautifully, not only in his (and Hank's) old neighborhood, Kim's Video featured prominently in one scene, but with the Twin Towers on the skyline, the old world's Fair's Unisphere in Flushing Meadows the center of a chase scene and a Giants game at Shea Stadium used for crowd cover. The film is also a masterful illustration of tone shifting, extreme violence, gore and horrifying situations balanced with the philosophical banter of Lipa and Shmully and the almost surreal meal Hank shares with them compliments of their Bubbe (Carol Kane), who warns them they cannot drive on the Sabbath. Hank is deemed 'a man who loves his mommy and is truly meshuga,' high praise from the 'scary monsters.'
The entire ensemble clicks, from Butler's laid back slacker who learns to think on his feet while suffering unimaginably, to that great trio of Schreiber, D'Onofrio and Kane. Tonic, who plays Bud, is not only beautiful, but incredibly cooperative with the filmmaking chaos going on around him.
Hank's mom will finally be revealed at film's end in a major cameo.
"Caught Stealing" is a brutal, high wire action adventure film where dire circumstances meld with life altering revelations and unexpected humor.
Sony Pictures releases "Caught Stealing" in theaters on 8/29/25.
