Caught Stealing was supposed to be Austin Butler’s breakout role as the “main guy” in a feature film. The problem is the film wasn’t up to snuff and didn’t complement his talent whatsoever. There was a large press push behind the premiere, and the publicity seemed endless, but after a misleading trailer, audiences may feel they’ve been hoodwinked. After seeing his talent in Eddington and Dune: Part Two, I wasn’t disappointed, but felt far from fulfilled at the end.
Directed by Darren Aronofsky, the film takes place in 1990s New York, following an ex-baseball player, Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), who works a dead-end job and drinks excessively. Plagued by recurrent memories of a life-changing accident, he gets by with the help of Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), a friend who should be his girlfriend. Hank’s simple life of working, drinking, and hooking up is shattered when his neighbor leaves for Europe, and Hank is left to clean up his mess and his cat. Without knowing who to trust, Hank has to fight his way to a solution before he and everyone around him winds up dead.
With a description like that and the trailer that’s floating around, you’d think this was some high-octane thriller. Sorry to disappoint, but it isn’t at all what it seems. The pace is disjointed, and the film lacks identity. Is it a thriller? Is it a sexy action flick? Is it an action-comedy? The film features a bit of everything, but it didn’t gel properly. There was a good helping of comedic relief, and they probably should’ve stuck with that. Just as we’re getting used to chemistry, somebody dies. Then an antagonist is introduced. We’ll spend so much time getting used to their character, and then they die. Too many things were happening too quickly, and then, you have to deal with Austin Butler keeping his clothes on.
During the short time you have them, Butler and Kravitz have a steamy romantic connection, but it’s short-lived because his character won’t commit to her. She’s also used as bait in the trailer since (*spoiler*) she doesn’t last for more than 30 minutes. They made it seem like the duo would have to go against the world in a Bonnie-and-Clyde-like manner to fight their way to a solution, but that is not the case whatsoever.
The collection of criminals was perfect. Detective Roman (Regina King) was a crooked cop working with a dealer named Colorado (Bad Bunny), and two thugs they used for muscle: Aleksei (Yuri Kolokolnikov) and Pavel (Nikita Kukushkin). They’re searching for a key that’s supposed to lead to a truckload of money. They’re in a race with Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio), two notorious killers who happen to be Jewish and drive a wood-paneled minivan, to find the money. They should’ve played on the rivalry between the antagonists a bit longer, because we were definitely shortchanged on the latter two.
There are some explosions, a few fights, and the expected racy scene with Butler and Kravitz, but none of it flowed together, and the side characters (Pavel, Shmully, etc) were more entertaining than the supposed “star”.
Caught Stealing gets a very average 7 out of 10. It’s not a bad film, it’s just not a good one. It could’ve been so much better had Aronofsky and Co. chosen one lane and stuck with it. The fragmented pace grew to be an annoyance about halfway through, and I checked my watch twice to see how much time was left. There was hyperfocus on the cat. There’s nothing special about the cat. The relationship Hank has with his mother had a nice, brief backstory to it, and her reveal at the end was a great move. But in the end, there were too many missteps for a sluggish, faceless film. You can wait to stream this one.
Caught Stealing premieres in theatres on Friday, Aug. 29
-Jon Jones
Photos: Sony Pictures
Genre: Drama/Thriller
Rating: R
Runtime: 1 hr 47 mins
Trailer: Watch
U.S. Release Date: Friday, August 29