Darren Aronofsky Proves Capable of Fun With Crime Romp Caught Stealing: Review

Director Darren Aronofsky opens Caught Stealing by grounding it immediately in a time and place: 1998, the Lower East Side of Manhattan, closing time at the bar where Hank (Austin Butler) works. Hank once had a chance at playing professional baseball, but a car accident stripped that dream away from him years ago; now, he’s on the verge of a full-tilt drinking problem, but keeping his head above water with more than a little support from his girlfriend Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz).

It all starts to go wrong for Hank, though, when his neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to cat-sit while Russ heads out of town. Soon, some guys are looking for Russ, and when they find Hank instead, the situation quickly gets out of hand. Soon, Hank’s on the run from the Russian mob, the cops, and two Orthodox Jews (Vincent D’Onofrio, Liev Schreiber) who might be the deadliest of them all. It all makes for a romp that’s a little bit reminiscent of the Sadfie brothers’ Good Time and Elmore Leonard crime capers, and a very unexpected sort of movie to come from the director of Requiem for a Dream.

As a filmmaker, Aronofsky has explored the depths of drug addiction, the wonders of the far-flung future, and the symbolic destruction of our planet… And now, he’s made a comedy, representing a huge shift in tone for him — a welcome one, to be honest, after the extreme bleakness of The Whale (a miserable viewing experience).

There are a few elements of Caught Stealing that feel off enough to transcend one’s suspension of disbelief — for example, Hank’s ability to walk, let alone run, after experiencing the amount of physical trauma this movie inflicts upon him. Yet it’s genuinely refreshing to see Aronofsky behind the camera on a movie that’s more than a little willing to have fun. Recently, directors like Jordan Peele and Zach Cregger have used their talent for humor to prove their skill with horror; it makes sense that a director with a pre-established talent for infusing horror into his work might also be able to understand the rhythms of the opposite genre.

It helps that his lead is very in sync with the assignment. Austin Butler proves an ability to hold the screen like the movie stars of old, keeping his performance grounded, likable, and sympathetic even when Hank’s making a bad choice or in over his head. His recent film roles — the King of Rock, a mumbling biker, a deranged Harkonnen heir — have without question shown off his range. Here, though, Butler shines simply playing a relatively ordinary guy having some really terrible luck, which is exceptionally promising for his future.

His chemistry with Zoë Kravitz is also electric, even if she’s sadly underused; more prominent by comparison is Matt Smith and his chaotic mohawk, the former Crown and Doctor Who star really reveling in his punk persona. Really, everyone in the cast seems to be enjoying themselves, from Regina King’s no-nonsense detective to Bad Bunny as a mildly flamboyant gangster (though he honestly made more of an impression in Happy Gilmore 2 than he did here).

While Caught Stealing doesn’t take itself too seriously, it does rack up a pretty high body count along the way, especially after a few discordantly dark plot choices. Yet the movie does make excellent use of a reliable source of lightness: Russ’s cat Bud, played by a feline named Tonic who gives a truly outstanding animal performance. Some movies put a cat on the poster but aren’t really all that focused on the cat. This movie, though, manages to serve as quality cat cinema without being too overwhelmingly cute about it.

There’s a full circle energy to this movie’s placement in space and time, coinciding with the exact era during which Aronofsky made his first movie, Pi. It’s a personal connection ensuring that throughout the movie, at the margins of the frame, is a deep nostalgia for the New York City that’s crumbling away at this time, the rougher edges of the city more present than they are today. The famous Kim’s Video appears in the background of one scene, as just one example of that familiar iconography. Meanwhile the soundtrack — composed by Rob Simonsen and performed by IDLES — is propulsive but not overwhelming, and serves as a seamless counterpart to the rich wealth of ’90s-era needle drops also featured on screen. (If you’re over the age of 40, you probably owned a good half of the soundtrack on CD at one point.)

It seems strange that Caught Stealing is only Aronofsky’s ninth movie, given how huge an impact he’s made over the years: Beginning with the promising chaos of Pi, he’s always stood out as a filmmaker unafraid to explore the limits of the human body as well as the human spirit. Between that boldness, and his talent for drawing Oscar-worthy performances from his cast, his movies have always felt like events. Grueling events, to be sure, but without question noteworthy.

Caught Stealing is a very different vibe, the furthest thing from an Oscar play but still a surprisingly enjoyable time, a movie where even the end credits have real life and spontaneity to them. And in many ways, it’s still recognizably an Aronofsky movie — which is perhaps its most remarkable achievement.

Caught Stealing slides into theaters on Friday, August 29th. Check out the trailer below.