Now that was a good movie cat.
Hank works at the local New York bar and wins people over with his affable nature. But his life turns upside down when he cat-sits his neighbour’s pet and thugs start arriving at his door. What exactly is going on here?
The unimaginatively titled Caught Stealing is directed by visionary Darren Aronofsky, and that was enough to convince me to watch it. Starring Austin Butler (Dune: Part 2) Zoë Kravitz (The Batman) Regina King (small-screen’s Watchmen) and a host of others: Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, and Vincent D’Onofrio. Quite the cast. It definitely has someone you recognise in it. The screenplay is adapted from the 2004 book of the same title by Charlie Huston.
I try my best to be objective on this website. Too long have I been unreasonably hype of objectively not good movies, or critical of good ones. But damn, Caught Stealing has a great movie cat in it. Its opening scene includes a song from my favourite band as well. So just for these things alone it probably gets a half-star added. I’m only human.
Set in 1998, Caught Stealing follows Hank (Butler) who despite his friendly nature (he phones his mum every day, for example) has a troubled past. Living with the regret of not going into a career in baseball, he slides through life casually. Yvonne, his partner, hopes he can go steady with her. But when his neighbour, an aging punk-rocker named Russ (Smith) leaves his pet cat in Hank’s care, Hank suddenly finds himself targeted by active New York gangs. What triggered this turn of events? Can Hank survive what is definitely not a good time long enough to find out?
When seeing the trailer, Caught Stealing is not really wowing anyone. It looks serviceable. A regular comedy-thriller, with some hi-jinx, a cute cat, and familiar faces. A good way to spend an evening and then forget about it. But then you see Darren Aronofsky’s name, and it suddenly makes no sense at all. The man who made such head-spinning films such as: Black Swan, Requiem for a Dream, mother!, The Fountain. Or extremely meaningful movies: The Whale, or The Wrestler. The same person made this? A by-the-books crime action movie?
I immediately assumed there was something else going on. That the marketing didn’t know how else to advertise it.
No, it basically does what it says on the tin. Which is only slightly disappointing.
Caught Stealing is a good time overall. It achieves something for most people. A steamy scene with Kravitz and Butler practically starts the movie (basically written on the screen: “Now that we have your attention”). Our characters are likeable when they should be, and hateful when they need to be. It has a great sense of place; the backwater streets of New York feel lived in, the people feel genuine. A lot of this comes from the script’s good sense of humour. It isn’t outright comedy, but it does provide some little chuckles fairly consistently. Austin Butler is excellent, as he continues to be. You very quickly get to know him and what sort of person he is, even with the slightest of quirks. Of course there is Tonic the cat, playing Buddy. Who is just a lovely cat, and the screenplay enforces you to care about him.
It isn’t the easiest of watches at times. Aronofsky hasn’t gone completely soft on us. The environments are generally dank and unkempt; lived in to the point of destruction. Our antagonists are extremely violent and pulverise anyone in their way. Twists and turns are intense and unpleasant. There’s gruesome injury detail and some torture. So it isn’t a walk in the park!
It is quite formulaic. Even a surprise in the third act isn’t really a surprise; it is pretty obvious what is happening. How the story goes is fairly standard for these sorts of crime thrillers. Matt Smith’s turn as a punk rocker is very entertaining to watch. Although I felt his presence to be anachronistic. In 1998 there weren’t really any British punk-rockers with mohawks and spiked leather jackets? He’s ten years too late. But perhaps that only adds to his weird, unorthodox countenance.
For being only 107 minutes, it felt long. I cannot say whether this is a good thing or a bad thing, since I was enjoying myself. But the nagging sensation that it was only 100 minutes so why is it still going on? Was present for the last act. It might benefit from a second watch.
Overall, it is a good watch. It is like a golden age Guy Ritchie movie. It doesn’t take itself too seriously; it has an almost cartoonish vibe about it. Yet it has Aronofsky’s gritty realism implementing it. Did I mention the cat?
