Darren Aronofsky has gifted the world with some truly upsetting movies, whether they be the classic Black Swan, the always appreciated but rarely rewatched Requiem for a Dream, and his recent efforts Mother! and The Whale. With his penchant for movies designed to punch you in the gut, I was surprised to see his name on what looked to be a fun, lighthearted crime thriller, but here we are with Caught Stealing.
Caught Stealing stars Austin Butler as Hank, a former baseball prodigy now working as a bartender in New York. When his neighbour Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to watch his cat, Hank is thrown into a wild web of crime, with multiple different criminal groups trying to get their hands on a ton of money and Hank taking a whole lot of hits as they do so.
I went into this expecting it to just be a ton of fun, and while it is lightyears less heavy than some of his other work, you can still certainly see some Aronofsky in there. There are moments with a lot of darkness to them, and while some of those moments work one big narrative element and how it is handled really killed the vibe for me. If it weren't for that moment I think I would have had an all around better time, but I was soured by how dark things went in contrast to the vibe leading up to it. I'm sure that's a key part of the book the film is based on, but nonetheless Aronofsky's handling of the tone there really threw me off.
Aside from that though I liked this a lot. Austin Butler is a great leading man, carrying the film with his charisma without stepping on anyone's toes and letting the supporting cast shine. His girlfriend is played by Zoe Kravitz who I loved but wish we got to see more of. Matt Smith was pretty easily the highlight of the cast for me, offering a foulmouthed Brit with a giant mohawk and delivering some of the film's most fun moments. Another highlight was someone I didn't even know was in the film until watching, as Griffin Dunne plays Hank's boss with a perfect level of over the top-ness. Regina King plays a cop following everything and while she was great as always, I did find her role to be pretty unexciting. You also get Liev Schreiber and Vincent D'Onofrio as "the Hebrews", a pair of brothers toted as the most ruthless in the game. They both play their roles almost as if they aren't involved in crime at all, making for a great dynamic of seeming kind while simultaneously committing heinous acts of violence.
Matthew Libatique is the cinematographer here and I'm not entirely sure how I feel about his work on this. I tend to love him as a DP, and some moments in the film are really impressive from a visual standpoint, but for the most part I was left just whelmed by the visual style. The action is pretty well done though, and he shoots the fights and chases as well as I could want. The music also does a great job of creating a sort of frenetic energy, really playing well into the chaos of this narrative. This is ultimately a fun watch that I enjoyed a lot but wish I loved. There is so much good that is unfortunately undercut by the unevenness of the tone and some moments that got too dark for the vibe of the rest of the film. 3.5/5
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