Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) was a high-school baseball phenom who can’t play anymore, but everything else is going okay. He’s got a great girl (Zoë Kravitz), tends bar at a New York dive, and his favourite team is making an underdog run at the pennant.

When his punk-rock neighbour Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to take care of his cat for a few days, Hank suddenly finds himself caught in the middle of a motley crew of threatening gangsters. They all want a piece of him; the problem is he has no idea why. As Hank attempts to evade their ever-tightening grip, he’s got to use all his hustle to stay alive long enough to find out…

The Garden Cinema View:

A disturbingly violent struggle for survival in the lawless and grimy streets of late-90s NYC? That’s right, it’s Darren Aronofsky’s most light-hearted and entertaining film!

If the scuzzy 70s proves the touchstone for the Safdies and Sean Baker, here Aronofsky is instead pulling from the likes of Doug Liman’s Go, Guy Ritchie’s Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, and 90s Elmore Leonard adaptations like Get Shorty, Jackie Brown, and Out of Sight. There’s a touch of Scorsese’s After Hours (which is becoming quite fashionable these days), not just in the casting of Griffin Dunne in a small role.

He's just one of a very fun cast led by a very desirable, and frequently topless Austin Butler. This is a good part for Butler, and it’s nice to see him not impersonating a legend (Elvis), as an unrecognisable psychopath (Dune), or playing a photograph (The Bikeriders).

As you may gather from the above, Caught Stealing is not Aronofsky’s most original or serious work, but it is a very well made and enjoyable throwback caper which feels quite refreshing.  

Cast:
Austin Butler, Zoë Kravitz, Regina King, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Bad Bunny, Carol Kane