Movies

Caught Stealing, starring Austin Butler and Zoe Kravitz, directed by Darren Aronofsky
Trailer: Columbia Pictures

Caught Stealing
Directed by Darren Aronofsky
Rated R
Crashed 29 August 2025
#CaughtStealingMovie

Caught Stealing strikes out.

City of Dreams

Sometimes a movie simply doesn’t have what it takes and should be sent back to the minors.

That’s the sentiment emanating from Caught Stealing, which features a central character, Hank (Austin Butler, who made waves as Elvis in Baz Luhrmann’s bio-pic), who had a promising career in baseball ahead of him. But that was back in high school, back before a tragic single-car accident ended a friend’s life and his journey to the majors.

His tale doesn’t get much better as he gets older. During the course of the movie’s action, he’ll lose a buddy, his girlfriend, a bar manager and a neighbor. All either directly or indirectly through his own poor decision-making skills. He’s a drunkard who’s forced to give up booze after another car accident leads to a surgery leaving him short on kidneys. But that doesn’t stop him from getting sloshed and starting another death-spiral impacting those around him.

His girlfriend describes him as a "nice, smalltown boy," one who’d be the 15th pick in the MLB draft. What Hank needs, though, is to be sympathetic. And he is not.

More problematic for moviegoers, there’s nothing innovative here until the end credits. Skip past an unexpected cameo. It’s how the end credits are presented. They start off normal; bottom to top scrolling begins, but then they’re jostled by a song from the Idles. All of a sudden, the scroll reverses, flowing from top to bottom. More shake, rattle and roll, then the credits go semi-psychedelic, coming in from the sides – the position from one side, the person from the other. At one point, they scroll on the side and from left to right.

The most innovative action – and the most attitude – in Caught Stealing is right there. The end credits.

And that is – in cinema terms – borderline tragic given Caught Stealing was directed by a reputable and talented director, Darren Aronofsky. He’s made deep, thought-provoking stuff like Pi, Requiem for a Dream and Black Swan. More recently, he directed the technically impressive, groundbreaking Postcard from Earth, the first feature film made for the lavish Sphere venue in Las Vegas. That movie, of course, premiered after U2 welcomed the world to Sphere with the very first performances ever at the cutting-edge venue that skews theatrical and offers a wholly different immersive experience.

Alphabet City

So, what the heck happened here? It's a head-scratcher and a rather aggravating movie experience.

So much talent squandered behind the camera and in front of it.

Aronofsky is working with a screenplay by Charlie Huston, based on his own book. Caught Stealing is positioned as Aronofsky going "mainstream" after his work on The Whale brought an Oscar to Brendan Fraser. It seems like Aronofsky and Huston were shooting for something along the lines of a Quentin Tarantino or Spike Lee or Guy Ritchie extravaganza. But they’ve got next to nothing to work with here. Those top-shelf directors carry a signature style, work with memorable characters and give them witty dialogue.

None of that is present in Caught Stealing.

Ideas are pitched, but they go nowhere.

Hank’s failed baseball career haunts him and there are moments early on when he’s seen escaping from some thugs using some slick baseball moves, as if he’s stealing home plate (in a supermarket). Later, he heads to batting practice, seemingly getting ready to go all kinds of tall walking on the bad guys.

But. No.

Nothing.

He chats with his mom and they trade voicemails, each cheering on the San Francisco Giants as their parting words. But, despite a short mid-end credits moment, there’s (ironically, in this case) no real pay-off.

There’s a scene when Hank is in a car with two Jewish brothers and the conversation leads toward his desire to have a clear conscience. For a flash, it seems as though the movie’s on the cusp of a transcendental moment. But no. Not really. The conversation ends with yet another car crash and some sort of revenge, but a clear conscience is nowhere to be found.

There are even thoughts that maybe pets – the usual, cats and lizards – will figure heavily in some sort of epiphany about life’s vicissitudes.

No.

His girlfriend challenges him. She needs a guy who has it together, who’s not running away from what scares him. Could that be the key? Hank’s turning point?

Well. Maybe. But not the kind of satisfying home run it demands.

Naked City

Summing up the story is like the start of a really bad, stupid and wildly offensive joke. It’s 1998. A pair of Jewish brothers, a Spanish thug, a British druggie, two goons from the Russian mafia, a crooked Black cop and a washed-up baseball player walk into a bar in New York City.

Part of the joke, of course, involves a key in a rubber turd.

There. That sums it up. To get to the treasure, you have to go through the poop.

Poor Hank gets wrapped up in an uninspired story involving that rag-tag group of characters and a key that unlocks an exorbitant amount of wealth.

To its credit, the movie has a great cast, including Butler, of course, along with Zoe Kravitz, Regina King, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Griffin Dunne and Carol Kane. They all do what they can.

And there are a couple decent twists. The best involves Yvonne (Kravitz), Hank’s girlfriend. A not-as-convincing turn involves Det. Roman (King), who is on the scene to assist Hank after he’s beaten to a pulp by that Russian mafia.

At the end, Hank, a die-hard Giants fan is at a bar and the Giants are on TV. But he turns it off, with none other than Barry Bonds at bat. On the empty screen Hank sees his own reflection. It’s actually a nice little moment for this discordant movie. And it’s also emblematic of this movie as well.

It’s merely a shadow of what it could’ve been.

• Originally published at MovieHabit.com.

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