Caught Stealing: A Messy Popcorn Thriller (Early Review)

After his more serious string of films as of late, director Darren Aronofsky looks to lighten the tone, instead opting for what many would call ‘popcorn entertainment’ with Caught Stealing, based on the book of the same name by Charlie Huston (who adapts his own work for the screenplay). This darkly comedic crime thriller is a different change of pace for the director as he brings a frenetic energy and an edge to the proceedings, meanwhile, star Austin Butler gets to show more of his leading man chops and a different side of himself. Armed with an effortless charisma and screen presence, it’s just a shame that the film is all over the place, made worse by its aforementioned energy. A pace that will certainly lend to its ‘popcorn entertainment’ moniker, it will have many willing to submit and go on the ride but in order to truly work, a film needs some substance behind it. That being said, Butler, and the prospects of a pairing with Aranofsky, are enough on paper to draw attention to it. However, the longer the film goes, the more it falls apart as it could not sustain itself, seemingly content with moving from one thing to another without consequence. Though a lot of audiences will go on the ride, others will be left wondering where it is going and/or what it leads to. Yet another film about a character who finds themselves in some crazy ordeal and has to then find a way out, it essentially plays out the same way, with enough twists and turns that will make heads spin.

Watching Caught Stealing feels like watching some other character’s story both figuratively and literally. The story follows Hank (Butler), an ex-baseball player and San Fransico Giants fan, whose life was on the line once he found himself pulled into the inner workings of the criminal underworld of 1990s New York City. Fighting for his life, he had to navigate this new world in the hopes of somehow escaping, as the situation became worse with each passing minute. Very much an outsider, the story drops Hank (and audiences) into the criminal underbelly with little rhyme or reason as to what is going on. That lack of a clear picture inevitably leads to questions revolving around its ultimate path, as the film takes quite some time figuring it out for itself, albeit while offering little in the way of substance. As the good guys and bad guys come in and out of the picture, and as the story also attempts to flesh out Hank’s tragic backstory, his ordeal made for a perfect storm of sorts. However, the problem with that is its hard to care about any of the characters outside of Hank, simply because not much is relayed about them and they are tied together by a convoluted story that leans on derivative tropes and becomes increasingly silly over time.

In the end, when it comes to film like Caught Stealing, the story basically doesn’t matter as most audiences will have tuned it out not long into it. Instead of doing Hank justice, it just gives up on him, and whatever character arc it started building, in favor of pure zaniness in resolving a story that never felt like his to begin with.  A victim of his criminal neighbor Russ (Matt Smith), he was merely swept up into his trouble by association, his rejoining the fray only made things worse again, both figuratively and literally. From there, the endgame became emerging from the zaniness as unscathed as possible. Throw in some lying, cheating, betrayal, double crossing, etc, elements that go hand-in-hand with films of this ilk, their effectiveness here is debatable as their result amount to very little on the impact scale. Similarly, the final outcome is never in question as playing fields often find a way of taking care of themselves. Though the film is technically a thriller, one that will easily draw comparisons to Uncut Gems and After Hours, the lack of a compelling narrative throughline to connect it all makes it undeserving of those comparisons. Meanwhile, playing off the cooky characters who interact with Hank, and the situations he found himself in, for laughs, the film is hit or miss, making for window dressing on an unremarkable product.

To his credit, Caught Stealing stands no chance if not for Butler and his effortless charisma. Somewhat grounding the film, in spite of its flaws, Butler is mesmerizing to watch as Hank. Finding a promising lane for himself, he still has something to prove in this genre. Making the most out of an underwritten characters and an unfocused script, Butler’s charisma does a decent job at filling those gaps, embracing Hank’s flaws and showing some vulnerability, at least until the film decided to abandon that lane altogether. While he understandably took most of the focus here, the stellar supporting cast, including King, Kravitz, Smith as well as Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, and Bad Bunny do their best to prop the film up, but they can only do so much with the quality of material they are given, all playing tropey characters that serve nothing more than as a means to an end.

Above all else, Caught Stealing has all the makings of a classic popcorn film on paper, and many will likely experience it as such, but beneath the surface, there isn’t much there other than an uncontrolled mess, though one that is shot with some flare. While leading man Austin Butler is a worthy proposition, it just did not work out here through no fault of his.

still courtesy of Sony Pictures

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.