There’s always a key movie I miss whenever I travel to a film festival, this time it seems to be Darren Aronofsky’s “Caught Stealing,” which honestly sounds like a fun time at the movies.
The embargo has lifted on “Caught Stealing,” and reviews are pretty good, not great, but good. It’s not ambitious like, say, “Black Swan” or “The Wrestler,” but there’s comparisons being made to Scorsese’s “After Hours,” which has me excited.
So far, “Caught Stealing” holds a 68 on Metacritic and an 79% on Rotten Tomatoes. I’ll keep updating these numbers as more reviews come in, but honestly, this is far better reception than the film has received from Sony’s handling.
In a move that hardly screams confidence, Sony decided it was a good idea to release “Caught Stealing” on August 29 — the very last week of the summer season. Why? You ask them. The only “hit” they’ve had this summer was “28 Years Later,” which barely broke even.
Based on Charlie Huston’s 2004 novel of the same name, “Caught Stealing” casts Austin Butler as Hank Thompson, a former high school baseball star whose life takes a sharp turn when a seemingly harmless favor—taking care of a neighbor’s cat—drops him straight into a chaotic underworld of mobsters, stolen loot, and increasingly dangerous entanglements.
The film is set in the 1990s Lower East Side, and Aronofsky shot on location in New York during fall 2024 with his longtime cinematographer Matthew Libatique. The supporting cast is stacked: Zoë Kravitz, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Carol Kane, Griffin Dunne, Bad Bunny, Matt Smith, and Regina King all feature in what sounds like a true genre ensemble.
Aronofsky’s last feature, “The Whale,” was released in 2022 and earned Brendan Fraser the Academy Award for Best Actor. Ironically enough, “Caught Stealing” seems to be getting better reviews but don’t expect it to be in Oscar contention.