Caught Stealing: Movie Review

Cast: Austin Butler, Zoe Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onfrio
Director: Darren Aronofsky

When former baseball player Hank Thompson (Elvis star Butler) is asked to babysit his punk rocker's (Doctor Who star Matt Smith) cat, he thinks it's a simple job. Albeit one he doesn't actually want.

But without warning, he's plunged into a world of guns and gangs after being attacked at the flat in this latest from Requiem For a Dream director Darren Aronofsky.

Attacked without warning on the doorstep of the flat by Russian mobsters, Hank suddenly finds himself victim of circumstance as he's caught up in the chaos of 1998 New York, with its sleazy edges and its fighting between gangs.

Torn by his past, ripped by alcohol addiction and hoping to find a way out with his new girlfriend paramedic Yvonne (played by Zoe Kravitz), Butler's Hank should be a compelling hero - a guy in the wrong place at the wrong time trying to do the right thing. But the script doesn't seem to know exactly what it wants to be - is it a comedy with violent edges or is it a gangster film with comedic moments and a straight-laced guy slap bang in the middle of it.

As a result, Caught Stealing feels like a tonal whiplash of a mix of styles that sort of gel, but also sort of don't.

Smith is a blast of scenery-chewing air as the brash punk Russ, but his presence is too limited - and most of what needs to be done has to be carried by Hank himself. Butler manages to keep the character on the straight and narrow and adds a level of soulfulness to proceedings - but with slim scripting around him, and an over-reliance on a flashback, there's a feeling of not quite enough to grapple here.

Sure, the story is about finally taking ownership of a past and moving on, but there's little to no subtlety here when that moment comes, no feeling of punch-the-air redemption when there should be.

Ultimately, Caught Stealing steals a few moments, but they're too few and far inbetween to feel anything other than just hollow victories, sadly.