What Caught Stealing lacks in depth, it more than makes up for with a faithful recreation of the 90s crime comedy vibe.
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I should've known better. When the first trailer dropped for Caught Stealing I was pleasantly surprised by its "late 90s crime-comedy" vibes complete with an upbeat soundtrack, a multicultural group of characters ranging from an aging punk to Jewish gangsters, and Austin Butler playing his first everyman in a bit. So why would this be anything than what you'd expect on the tin? Directed by Darren Aronosfky. For those unfamiliar Aronofsky is not known for making "fun" movies. He typically makes nightmare fuel metaphor-laded dramas including Black Swan, mother! and Requiem for a Dream. Hell he already made a 90s thriller involving Jewish gangsters with his debut feature Pi. Almost all of which include nightmare fuel visuals and main characters being put through the absolute ringer (often via their own insecurities and obsessions). So of course, his version of a crime thriller isn't going to be a clean, darkly funny romp right? Well yes and no.
The Setup
Austin Butler stars as Hank Thompson, a California transplant who makes his living as a New York bartender. But Hank's unassuming life goes off the rails when his drug-dealing neighbor Russ asks Hank to look after his cat and a parade of gangsters come calling for Russ and a giant stash of money. Now the directionless Hank will have to pull all of his effort into staying on step ahead of the criminals to keep the people he cares about, and himself, safe.
The vibe of this movie is easy to explain. It's basically Darren Aronofsky's version of a Guy Ritchie movie. A bunch of interweaving criminals who are all after a very valuable thing (in this case literal money) that our main character unintentionally got involved with. Hell the movie is even set in the 90s just in case you we're getting the "indie crime comedy thriller" vibe. But there's two elements that make this feel different.
The first is a darker/grittier take than you'd expect based on the "comedy" label. I'll use a very early example to explain what I mean. Shortly after Russ drops off his cat, Hank is attacked by Russian gangsters who beat the piss out of him...literally. Instead of this being a beating that Russ can shake off, it's actually rough enough that Russ gets a ruptured kidney and wakes up in a hospital, having been in and out of consciousness for two days.
So while other movies might enjoy using our hero as a perpetual pin cushion and Energizer Bunny blend, (keeps going inspite of the beatings), Hank is disempowered almost immediately, which means every encounter with someone who could punch him in the same spot again, is life-threatening. But it's not like he can do nothing because he has cops and criminals threatening him and his loved ones if he doesn't find the money. No way out but through.
Which swan dives nicely into the movie's second unique wrinkle which is Hank's personal journey. The short version with Hank is that he's a fella who's sleepwalking through his life. He had a tragedy when he was young that has defined his life and everyone seems to talk to him like he's unserious or doesn't face up real problems when they arise. So now here's a problem that he has to face head on or else he's going to die. Let's see if he can rise to the moment.
This is also great use of Austin Butler's talent since he looks like the kind of guy who was a hotshot in high school, but still has the acting chops to sell this flawed everyman character. Very easy to see this guy as the bartender that should've been a pro ball player who is also completely unready to handle a parade of different criminals breaking down his door.
It's also fascinating to see Aronosky embrace a lighter tone complete with comedy based action beats including car chases and shootouts, because he has the chops for it. And because he lives for the little tensions that feel big in his movies, he can make also little moments like Hank trying to say undiscovered by criminals as he sneaks into his aparmment feel just as tense.
All of which the movie rattles through in about 100 minutes.
So is there a standout issue with the movie? Kinda. The difficulty almost every crime comedy has is balancing its tone. Because the violence and threats in the criminal world are very real, but we're also aiming for a lighter tone, so there's a good chance we'll be watching a murder played for laughs at least once. This is something that's really easy to achieve with larger than life characters or what I'll lovingly call "movie dialogue." Dialogue that is antithetical to how people actually speak, but works because we're creating a fun world, not a serious one.
The problem is how/when Caught Stealing decides to be serious. Functionally, the movie's darkest moments all make sense. They're all reminders or lessons that Hank has to learn before he can truly face down this problem and try to get out alive.
But that's also the problem. They all feel like dark moments meant to incur character growth. They're not the result of Hank's weaknesses or frailties. Hell the entire reason all of these problems came to his door isn't even his fault. But because this is a movie and we need a personal journey, we're doing to dump some extra dark stuff into the mix...that only really affects Hank.
Which is exactly how Darren Aronofsky movies normally work...except those movies put a lot of effort into establishing the lead character's weaknesses versus telling us what they are. In Black Swan it's a toxic combination of ambition, the structure of the ballet, and competition that destroys the lead character. In Caught Stealing we're told that Hank has a drinking problem before we see it. And then he has one bad night of drinking. And then he doesn't have the issue anymore outside of furtive glances towards booze or once twice. If you could define Hank as an alcoholic, it's not a defining aspect of his character throughout the film.
But you can't really make him a barely functional alcoholic because this is a crime caper and he needs to be our down on his luck plucky hero that we're still rooting for, so even if this moment is really dark, it's going to have a crucial story function: remind our hero that he needs to start acting like the hero.
I don't think this prevents the movie from being the gangster-riddled romp it's intending to be. I mostly think it's darkest moments highlight how the events of the plot revolve around the lead character because he's the lead character.
The Verdict: Solid, If A Touch Shallow
What Caught Stealing lacks in depth, it more than makes up for with a faithful recreation of the 90s crime comedy vibe. 7/10
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