Caught Stealing - Movie Review

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As always, you have 100 days to decide whether or not you like the mattress 10-year warranty flexible payment options. I appreciate that peace of mind. So click the link below, go to helixsleep.com slash jeremyjohns, take advantage of their Labor Day sale, get yourself 27% off. And now, was this movie Shadow released? It's a new Darren Aronofsky film. I feel like I saw one trailer for it. Damn. So Caught Stealing is the new film by director Darren Aronofsky, the director of Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain, The Wrestler, Black Swan, Mother. Oh, Pie? Can't forget Pie. The comment section's dream, you forget Pie. And this is an adaptation of the book Caught Stealing written by Charlie Houston, who funny enough wrote the screenplay for this film. Which I guess is Darren Aronofsky's thing, just get the writer to write the adaptation that he's going to direct. Because Samuel D. Hunter wrote The Whale, also wrote the screenplay adaptation for the Darren Aronofsky directed film The Whale. Caught Stealing stars Austin Butler as Hank, a likable guy who's a bit down on his luck because back in the day he had his opportunity to go big time in baseball. He still loves baseball, but there he is working at a bar. He's pals with Russ, played by Matt Smith, who has to go out of town, says, hey, could you watch my cat? And now these Russians are looking for something that Matt Smith had. Austin Butler gets pulled into it. They think he has the thing. He needs to find the thing to get them off his ass. And here we are, we have a new Guy Ritchie, I mean, Darren Aronofsky film. I say it all tongue in cheek, joking like, but not entirely. Because this is a dark crime comedy, which absolutely feels in line with Guy Ritchie. But old school Guy Ritchie. Ever watch a Guy Ritchie film these days and go, man, I could really go for Guy Ritchie going back to those lock stock snatch days. Here you are, the closest I've seen lately, we're talking in years, if not the decades since those movies, is Caught Stealing. If I were to take Caught Stealing, go back in time and release it as a Guy Ritchie film, you know, I mean, like if I had Jedi Mind Trick, let's say I could just make it happen. The perception was the 1-2-3 punch was lock stock snatch caught stealing. It wouldn't even feel weird. Rather than the alternate universe we currently live in, in which it's lock stock snatch and swept away. But everyone in the movie does a good job, like Zoe Kravitz is great, Regina King's in the film, she's really good. Matt Smith, I wish I saw more of Matt Smith, but makes sense that I don't, given the fact that he leaves town and that's what gets Austin Butler wrapped into all of this. If we saw more of him, he wouldn't have left town. If he didn't leave town, we wouldn't have the story. But I feel like Matt Smith being one of the first pictures we saw of this movie, it was like, oh, Matt Smith's really popping off in that House of the Dragon and they had him brooding in the Dark Souls dungeon for season two. My gosh, fans need something. Here you go, new Darren Aronofsky set pick, get hyped. And I was, I was hyped, but you know, he's not in it that much. There are a couple of guys in this movie, there they are, that's Austin Butler in the middle, you know that. I recognized one, I did not recognize the other. It'll hit you like a ton of bricks. If it doesn't hit you like a ton of bricks on screen, you're going to go on IMDB later and it's going to hit you like two tons of bricks. Just notice their names are on the poster. Don't read the poster. In fact, don't watch the trailer either. The trailer shows the entire movie. It shows way too much. Skip that entirely. Maybe watch the first half of the trailer, but that's it. All that is to say, this is the Austin Butler show. Absolutely. The entire film is seen through his POV. I can't think of a scene that he wasn't in, and the dude is just great at the job. Look, I love his Elvis impersonation. I love his eccentric performance in Dune 2, but this relatable everyday guy who missed his shot gets wrapped up in this crime bullshit and has to step up to figure it out. That is solid boots on the ground acting. Austin Butler shows why he's a triple threat. Granted, that's another thing Darren Aronofsky excels at. He is known for bringing the best out of actors, sometimes among films with actors in which that director-actor duo will never happen again. Last couple of years, Austin Butler's absolutely exploded, but this here is, he is absolutely carrying this film. What you come to expect from a Darren Aronofsky film and what he's good at, you do see here. Performances, cinematography, tone, atmosphere. That is the world he's crafting that brings you into it. This movie takes place in the late 90s and there's never a question this is absolutely the late 90s. Doesn't feel like an emulation of the late 90s. It feels like they filmed this movie in the late 90s. It feels like he actually filmed this in 1998. He's been holding on to it for nearly three decades. Three decades. Damn. To be fair, 27 years. Still. Summer 2025 was two seconds long. Time just flies. It's the way it is. Everything from street-level drugs, peek behind the curtain of wrestling culture, to that existential crisis. Darren Aronofsky's great at bringing you into it. That said, the biggest thing about this movie that does hold it back is sometimes it feels like it has a case of identity crisis. Beginning of this video when I was talking about it feeling like a Guy Ritchie film, that is it feels more Guy Ritchie than Darren Aronofsky, but not as good as Guy Ritchie did it back when. I do think Guy Ritchie does do a better job at blending fusing comedy with dark crime. There are some moments in this movie I was like that's it's dark and unsettling and it feels like tonal conflict. Felt a little more conflict here than I did with say the Guy Ritchie films of old. I just wish he got us to care about a character or two as much as we cared about the cat. The whole movie is actually I mean I like it. I'm an animal lover myself. I like the fact that Austin Butler's character like the whole time he's carrying this cat around with him and he's dealing with people who you know they don't care if the cat gets hurt. But still in dealing with a film with characters I was like well yeah sure I guess I'll roll with it but whatever. This movie's a roller coaster in how I was processing it. First act I was like oh man this is like old school Ritchie I'm in. Second act I was like this has a lot of conflicting tone. Is it a comedy? Is it a dark crime film? I know it's trying to be both it's just not always blending as both. But by the end it wrapped up in a way that I did find fulfilling. So there is that. But if the director can stick that landing it makes those moments that were a bit of a bumpy ride in the middle makes you you know more apt to forgive them. I feel like there's a lot to process here. I feel like 2025 is the year of those movies that tried to do a lot. Tried to be a lot of personality and didn't always blend. Some did it better than others. Some flaws aside I did find the Austin Butler show to be a fun time. No alcohol required. Or is some cot stealing? Have you seen it? What did you think about it? Or what's your favorite Guy Ritchie? Not Guy Ritchie. Aronofsky. Oops. What's your favorite Darren Aronofsky film? Or rank the Darren Aronofsky film? Whatever it is whatever you think comment below let me know. And as always if you like what you've seen here and you want to see more click right here to see more.