Caught Stealing (2025) Movie Review: Aronofsky Defies Expectations By Keeping To Conventional Crime Thrills

You’ve always got a general idea of what Darren Aronofsky might be saying from one film to the next, but you’re never quite sure, at the time of his most recent release, how he’s going to say it when it’s time to get the cameras rolling once more. Sure, you can argue that “The Wrestler” and “Black Swan” (originally conceived as one film, to be fair) are quite similar in their performance-based spotlights. The path from “Noah” to “mother!” is paved with clear biblical intent, but in general, it’s hard to find outliers in his work when the entire canvas is painted with such disparate colors.

On that front, to say that “Caught Stealing” is an outlier in Aronofsky’s oeuvre may not hold much weight, but as the filmmaker continues to find new means of penetrating the most divisive corners of America’s tortured psyches, his most recent effort may paradoxically catch you off-guard by how conventional it truly is. There are, for the true Aronofsky-heads out there, bloody traces of the burdens we place upon ourselves that leave his subject bruised and gashed just as heavily as any of his past mathematicians, drug addicts, and prophets of the apocalypse. But while his past exploits into “palatable” territory manifested in out-and-out tearjerkers, this concession of style bypasses the tissues and goes straight for the popcorn bucket.

Set in 1998 (insert requisite comment about how we don’t get mid-range movies like this anymore, making the time period all the more fitting), “Caught Stealing” locks us right into a New York City entirely timeless in its insular ecosystem of crime and casual cursing. Hank Thompson (Austin Butler, continuing to give Glen Powell a run for his money as home-grown movie-star material) finds his space in this ecosystem behind the counter of a bar, serving drinks just as quickly and casually as he downs them himself.

An alcoholic former baseball prodigy-in-the-making (take a shot every time you hear “Go Giants!”), Hank’s nonchalant wading through life is stalled when his excessively punk (and excessively British) neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), suddenly springs his cat onto Hank, begging him to take care of the furball while he returns across the Atlantic for family matters. Hank’s reluctance to take in his hairy new roommate—typical of a stereotypical New York tough guy, the man prefers dogs—is only alleviated by the enthusiasm of his casual girlfriend, Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz). It doesn’t take long, though, for this simple cat-sitting job to put a target on Hank’s back as several different factions of the city’s criminal underworld set their sights on Russ’s apartment. He left something behind; they all think Hank has it, and now he’s next up on the chopping block.

Caught Stealing (2025) — A still from “Caught Stealing” (2025)

Working with a script penned by the story’s original author, Charlie Huston (for those keeping track, that’s two straight films in which Aronofsky has relied on his source material’s author to handle the script), “Caught Stealing” retains a propulsive pace that keeps all its pieces in motion with the grease of the city’s oozing personality. Clearly shooting on film, Aronofsky lets the grime and grain quite literally seep through the frame as endless bruise-ready tomfoolery fills the runtime on the backs of expressive side players (Bad Bunny appears as one of the gangsters, but as far as musician appearances go, nobody was going to bring that Flushing flavor more robustly than the boy Action Bronson).

Huston’s script keeps these shenanigans as consistent and vibrant as Russ’s gaudy mohawk, but it doesn’t take long before “Caught Stealing” begins to make the stakes of Hank’s dilemma truly felt. Aronofsky, ever willing to sell the horrors of the world just outside your door, proves himself entirely unafraid to kill off his players, and in as unceremonious a manner as possible. It’s here that the film centers itself to ensure that none of the humorous hijinks ever come at the cost of our rooting for Hank to make it out with as few casualties (and as many kidneys) as he can.

Butler, as expected, is certainly an asset in anchoring this film’s mid-level charm with a forceful pull of movie-star gravitas, swaggering into every frame with a bulky demeanor that betrays the character’s increasingly believable distancing from action hero stoicism. A recurring flashback to the accident that killed his baseball career (among other things) risks derailing the film’s momentum in cliché, but Aronofsky and Huston manage to refocus it all in the end towards an effective, if largely typical, journey of clarity.

“Caught Stealing,” by that token, isn’t relying too heavily on the novelty of premise or the unfathomable brutality of execution to stake its claim. Rather, Darren Aronofsky’s trip through more customary territory is handled with all the immersion of a steady run through those concrete jungles. Every stumble over a garbage can or dodgy experience with a Jets fan is just another part of the New York experience, and it’s refreshing to see Aronofsky finally let that Brooklyn spirit ravage its way all across those perilous sidewalks.