The spirit of classic Elmore Leonard adaptations such as Jackie Brown and Out of Sight lives on in Caught Stealing, a diverting new crime drama with a strong dash of dark comedy opening in Prague and cinemas worldwide this weekend. This straightforward thriller from the book by Charlie Huston (who also penned the screenplay) represents something of a departure for director Darren Aronofsky (The Whale, Mother!), but gorgeously captures a very particular late-1990s New York City aesthetic and successfully recaptures some of the magic of early films by Quentin Tarantino and Guy Ritchie, while adding its own unique spin.
Caught Stealing stars Austin Butler (Elvis) as Hank Thompson, a one-time high-school baseball prospect from California who is still reeling from the car accident that robbed him of a career—and left his friend dead. He’s been living in New York City for more than a decade, working late nights in a grotty bar owned by Paul (Griffin Dunne) and spending mornings with girlfriend Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), whose work as an after-hours paramedic complements his schedule.
Hank is drifting through life in the summer of 1998, but trouble lands on his doorstep in the form of British punk rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith, sporting a delightful mohawk), who demands Hank look after his cat while he heads to London to check in on his father. No problem… until a pair of Russian mafiosos (Nikita Kukushkin and Yuri Kolokolnikov) come beating on Russ’s door, and send Hank to the hospital when he dares to ask what they want.
A police detective (Regina King) tells Hank that these men are no good—but that a pair of Hasidic mafia bosses that may also be connected to them, played by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio, are the real monsters. But Hank has no idea what’s going on, and he doesn’t get any wiser after being visited by a Puerto Rican gangster named Colorado (Bad Bunny). He does, however, find a key hidden in the cat’s litter box—and finally starts to take control of his life after these disparate underground figures push him too far.
Caught Stealing is exactly the kind of indie movie that was all the rage in 1998, and while directors like Tarantino and Steven Soderbergh are still making movies, they aren’t making them like this. That’s a shame: Leonard’s crime thrillers were too gritty in the 1980s (52 Pick-Up, Cat Chaser) and became too comedic by the 2000s (The Big Bounce, Be Cool), but for a while there, they got them just right.
This one gets it just right too: maintaining this level of dark humor and dark thrills isn’t easy, but Caught Stealing remains fun and fresh even as things get serious and the blood starts to flow. There’s another level that this genre has reached, and Aronofsky’s film doesn’t have the raw, manic energy of the Safdie brothers’ Good Time or Uncut Gems, but as a 1990s pastiche it hits all the right notes.
What truly elevates Caught Stealing beyond its genre trappings are the technical elements. Aronofsky makes full use of New York City as both backdrop and character, staging sequences across Queens, Manhattan, and Brooklyn with a gritty immediacy that recalls 1970s urban cinema. Cinematographer Matthew Libatique brings a grainy, film-like texture that perfectly suits the late-1990s setting, while the production design revels in the dirty, cluttered environments that define Hank’s life. Rob Simonsen’s score is equally first-rate, layered with pulsing motifs and highlighted by a handful of blistering original tracks from British post-punk band Idles.
Ultimately, Caught Stealing is Aronofsky’s most accessible and purely enjoyable film since Black Swan: a sharp, stylish thriller that honors its pulp roots while carving out its own identity. It’s a movie that takes wild swings and connects more often than not—a hard-edged crime drama that, like its baseball-obsessed protagonist, knows when to step up to the plate and deliver. Make it a double header with Bad Monkey, a Carl Hiaasen adaptation of similar quality starring Vince Vaughn now streaming on Apple TV+.
Tidbit (and a small spoiler) for non-baseball fans: Caught Stealing takes place during the 1998 playoff chase, when Hank’s San Francisco Giants ended the season tied with the Chicago Cubs, resulting in a one-game tie-breaker. Giant superstar Barry Bonds had a notably poor day at the plate in this game, twice making out with the bases loaded, en route to a narrow Cubs win; in the book Game of Shadows, authors Mark Fainaru-Wada and Lance Williams allege that his performance led him to taking performance enhancing drugs.
In one of Caught Stealing‘s final scenes, diehard fan Hank—whose first thought after coming out of kidney surgery was to catch up on his team—turns off the game during Bonds’ final at bat. He’s not only moving on with his own life—but setting a different course for himself than Bonds, who would go on to break the all-time home run record but never take accountability for steroid use.
