“If you can’t bite, don’t show your teeth.”
– Bubbe (Carol Kane) in Caught Stealing
There are a number of ways to spin the “fish out of water” theme in stories. Sometimes it’s a tale where someone gets whisked away to another world (literally or metaphorically), sometimes it’s a tale wherein someone moves to a new city, sometimes it’s just a simple mistaken identity situation — and these are just the three that come to mind immediately. For the latest Darren Aronofsky (Mother!; Black Swan) project, Caught Stealing, based on the 2004 Charlie Huston novel of the same name, the script adapted by Huston incorporates a few of these elements with a little bit of that “one crazy day” magic (though that’s more the energy it seeks to cultivate than actually use as a framework). The end result is a work that’s chaotic, hilarious, horrifying, and dark, and yet still lighter than so much of Aronofsky’s more recent projects. Now that Caught Stealing is out for good behavior on home video, fans can learn a little bit about the making of the film through four brief featurettes, included with both physical and digital editions.
L-R: Zoë Kravitz as Yvonne and Austin Butler as Hank in Columbia Pictures’ CAUGHT STEALING. Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise. © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
For roughly 10 years, Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) has lived in New York City, far from his home in California where his dreams of playing major league baseball expired so long ago. Now, when not rooting for his beloved San Francisco Giants in the land of the NY Mets or working at his buddy Paul’s (Griffin Dunne) bar, he’s spending time with maybe-girlfriend Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz). On a night like any other, Hank’s neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks Hank to watch his cat as he has to fly back to London ASAP to see his ill father, which is about as basic a thing as one neighbor can ask another. What Hank doesn’t expect is that by taking on the responsibility of looking after the cat, Hank would also fall into the crosshairs of two Russians and a Puerto Rican who want something Russ has and think Hank knows where it is and are willing to break bones to find it. Can Hank get clear and maybe earn some extra innings in this life or is it game over for good?
The following home release review is based on a Blu-ray retail copy provided by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment.
Plenty of films have been destroyed by marketing. Sometimes it’s a matter of feeling like one has seen all the action in the latest blockbuster, all the twists in the upcoming thriller, or all the gags in a comedy. With Caught Stealing, the marketing sold the film as a “one crazy day” tale in the vein of Martin Scorsese’s After Hours (1985) or Michael Mann’s Collateral (2004), but while it’s darkly comic like After Hours and violent like Collateral, Caught Stealing takes place over several days, borrows from the mistaken identity trope via proximity (using Hank’s “acquaintance” status as reason enough to beat the hell out of him), and leans a great deal on Hank’s haunted past as a reason for his being out of his depth. Putting all of these together, you don’t get a kinetic action comedy, you get a frenetic crime thriller in which its unpredictability is both strength and weakness. This, of course, doesn’t jive with what was sold and, as a result, saw an Aronofsky title arrive and leave theaters in haste. Watching it apart from all the release hubbub, with expectations tempered, Caught Stealing is a strangely light entry into Aronofsky’s filmography, but when said career includes titles like The Whale (2023), Mother! (2017), and Requiem for a Dream (2000), titles with a great deal of darkness within them not fully off-set by the moments of levity, calling this a “light” entry is, itself, a bit of a misnomer. Our protagonist is engaged in self-harm through over-drinking, masks his selfishness through avoidant behavior, and struggles to confront his past so as to move past it. The journey of survival he goes on forces him to confront every aspect of what he’s avoided, the consequences of his choices coming into sharp relief as violence continually pushes him to lose more and more. While situations or responses to them come off as comedic, these moments of levity are cut by dread, disquiet, and blood. So much blood. Some of it Hank’s, some of it collateral damage, and some of it from those who target Russ. Still, by Aronofsky standards, Caught Stealing is a romp as the chaos falling upon Hank rapidly turns quite surreal as his enemies, whether the Russian toughs (portrayed with glorious anarchy by Nikita Kukushkin and the more tempered Yuri Kolokolnikov), their Puerto Rican handler (played by Benito A Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny), or the two Hasidim (played with such wonderous accuracy by Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio), collide like villains caught in a Elmore Leonard novel (Out of Sight) or Guy Ritchie flick (Snatch).
L-R: Yuri Kolokolnikov as Aleksei, Benito A Martínez Ocasio as Colorado, Austin Butler as Hank, and Nikita Kukushkin as Pavel in Columbia Pictures’ CAUGHT STEALING. Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise. © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
The biggest sin that Caught Stealing possesses isn’t that it’s not the movie advertised, but that the script is fairly predictable in terms of who is who and Hank’s personal arc. There’s a definitive surprise (a few, actually) for those who haven’t read the book, but we figure out really quickly exactly how Hank is going to get out of the shitty situation he’s in, how things are going to play out when Russ re-enters the picture, and who Hank can trust. Because of this, the narrative needs to spend a great deal of time with Hank on his past, told primarily through flashbacks revealed to be Hank’s nightmares as he relives the incident that destroyed his career, likely sent him to NYC, and made him cling so tightly to his SF Giants fandom. The way that the film forces Hank to confront his past is, at the very least, the most creative aspect of the film as first he loses alcohol when he must have a kidney removed after his first interaction with the Russian toughs, meaning that any fallback into drinking is going to hit him harder than before, transforming a crutch into a harder to recover from form of flagellation. With each new challenge to rise up from, thematically Hank must confront some part of his past that he keeps running from. This brings us to the line from Carol Kane’s Bubbe who tells Hank, in Yiddish, to be careful because he doesn’t seem like a violent person. In truth, Hank is neither violent nor a pacifist, but through circumstances growing more dangerous by the moment, he has to learn how to raise his fists and fight if he’s going to survive. He’s hidden himself for so long, all those in his new circle see is a victim who might be able to lead them to Russ which means that the inevitable teeth-rearing is going to pack a wallop. Thankfully, it’s pretty satisfying to see.
As a home release, the features included are brief but informative. A mix between staged interviews, promotional materials, and on-set activities, the four featurettes invite audiences to listen to Aronofsky, Huston, and the cast talk about the making of the film, how they got attached to the project, and more. Both Aronofsky and Huston are from New York City and their respective anecdotes about their time living there (Huston talking about writing the book and the surreal experience of shooting six blocks from where he wrote it, for instance) create a general sense of excitement and fun throughout the featurettes. The film doesn’t possess a constant high intensity, but the stories provide some color which helps the world feel realized. One such fun tidbit is that Kitty Lawrence, who plays building neighbor Miss Kitty, is a former neighbor to Aronofsky and a staple of his time there. There’s also information on how they executed several stunts, how Butler (Dune: Part Two) was able to perform a few of them himself, and the cast’s interpretations of the film. In brief, you learn a little while they had a ball.
For the unaware, the Huston novel Caught Stealing is the first of three, detailing the adventures of one Hank Thompson. In this case, Aronofsky’s Caught Stealing is decidedly a one-off. Could Hank find himself once more in over his hand or at the mercy of individuals looking for their own version of revenge? Sure. But there’s nothing in the energy of this production that seems to be angling that way. And this is ok; not everything has to kick off a franchise. While the dark tone of Caught Stealing doesn’t always find its balance in the comedy, the ensemble is all on the same page in terms of energy, tone, and execution, so, if one can get past the expectation, there’s an entertaining time to be had. The added benefit of it being on home video being that, should you want to experience it again, you can at your leisure.
L-R: Liev Schreiber as Lipa, Austin Butler as Hank, and Vincent D’Onofrio as Shmully in Columbia Pictures’ CAUGHT STEALING. Photo Credit: Niko Tavernise. © 2024 CTMG, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
Oh, and one last thing for the record: Let’s go, Mets!
Caught Stealing Special Features:
- Aronofsky: The Real Deal (5:51)
- Casting Criminals, Chaos, and a Cat (6:56)
- I Don’t Drive (3:31)
- New York Story (3:27)
Available on VOD and digital September 30th, 2025.
Available on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, and DVD November 11th, 2025.
Available on Netflix November 29th, 2025.
For more information, head to the official Sony Pictures Caught Stealing website.
Final Score: 3.5 out of 5.
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Categories: Home Video, Reviews, streaming
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