Caught Stealing
I have a love-hate relationship with director Darren Aronofsky. I’ve loved much of his work and despised some of the rest. I found his 2010 psychological drama “Black Swan” to be one of the year’s best films. It earned Natalie Portman a well-deserved Best Actress Oscar for her performance as a New York ballerina. Likewise, I had his 2022 offering “The Whale” #1 on my list of that year’s best films. It too earned a well-deserved Best Actor Oscar for Brendan Fraser as a grossly overweight English professor. On the other hand, I consider the 2017 Jennifer Lawrence religious horror film “mother!” to be one of the worst “serious” films ever made.
Lead character
So now, three years after “The Whale,” Aronofsky gives us “Caught Stealing,” which Columbia Pictures has described as a “dark comedy crime thriller,” even though finding comedy here is something akin to locating the proverbial needle in a haystack. Austin Butler, who made such a splash three years ago playing the lead in Baz Luhrmann’s “Elvis,” plays Hank, a down-on-his-luck New York bartender who was once a top prospect for the San Francisco Giants.
A tragic incident involving the death of another top major league prospect continues to haunt Hank, as he drinks his way through a relatively uneventful life consisting of spending time with his girlfriend Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz) and daily calls with his mother in California. The 1998 setting parlays itself well onto their discussions about their beloved Giants, in their quest to make the World Series. Ironically, the Giants didn’t even make the playoffs that year, although that tidbit is immaterial to Charlie Huston’s screenplay, which he adapted from his 2004 crime novel.
Development of the plot
After Hank’s punk-rocker apartment neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) returns to London to visit his ailing father, two Russian mafia types come looking for Russ, only to end up beating poor Hank to a pulp in the apartment common space. Hank is beaten so severly, he ends up in the hospital and loses a kidney. Since we’re unaware why these thugs come looking for Russ, the beating seems particularly severe – as though Aronofsky has borrowed a page from Quentin Tarantino’s book of gratuitous, over-the-top motion picture violence.
And even as “Caught Stealing” progresses, we’re never completely sure how Hank has ended up in the middle of a mob war between the Russians and two notorious Hasidic Jewish crime brothers, played by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio. It has something to do with a key that opens a storage unit containing a large sum of money. Russ, perhaps inadvertently but maybe on purpose, has left the key in a cat toy he’s given to Hank when he asks him to watch his cat while he’s in London. I know all this sounds implausible, but you just have to go with it.
Two good performances
Regina King turns in a strong performance as an NYPD detective sent to investigate, and to enlighten Hank on the mess he’s now squarely in the middle of. And as usual, Buter’s performance is particularly strong. Even in bad films, such as the recent “Eddington,” Butler has a persona that simply lights up the screen.
Poor plot structure
One of my issues with “Caught Stealing,” is that we’ve seen countless films about a common, innocent protagonist who becomes involved in a large plot, and then must find his or her way out. Alfred Hitchcock was a master at this kind of set-up. As his movies progressed, layers of story were peeled back – revealing just enough to captivate audiences. But here, we don’t have enough information to determine why Hank has become such a valuable commodity. Yes, he has the key… but, so what? Once he turns the key over to someone – anyone – “Caught Stealing” would essentially be over.
Hero is too flawed
Which leads us to Problem #2 (or #3 if you count the level of screen violence). Hank eventually develops a desire to “play the game” along with the mobsters – which, any viewer can attest – is a terrible idea! But something must be done to continue the story, so it doesn’t end after 45 minutes. Hank could have (nee should have) been a character with strong moral values. Heck, a movie this packed with thugs and lowlifes practically requires someone to care about. If that’s not Hank, then who?
Watch “Anora” again instead
And for a film promoted as a “dark comedy,” these gangsters are simply too severe and uncompromising. Remember last year’s Best Picture winner “Anora?” One of its many endearing qualities was the fact that we know Mikey Madison’s Anora character was never in any real danger. Heck, the hoodlums who came to terrorize her weren’t even armed! Hence, as “Anora” progressed, we viewers simply went along for the ride. And it was fun! That one reminded me of early Tarantino – before he embraced extreme violence. His early films were “heavy,” but easy to watch.
“Caught Stealing” is reminiscent of later Tarantino, albeit without the robust screenplays. Even though I love much of Darren Aronofsky’s work, I simply cannot recommend “Caught Stealing.” It’s hard not to become somewhat engaged in the story, yet we keep wanting it to end. It’s a loud, brutal, destructive film which offers no real commentary on… anything. It simply exists, only to be completely forgotten a couple weeks later.
Andy Ray‘s reviews also appear on https://townepost.com/