“Caught Stealing” begins with a vague opening but immediately cuts to the chase at a bar where lead actor Austin Butler as Hank Thompson works following a burnt out try with baseball.
The movie kicks up gears with Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz) is a full-on hopeless romantic who falls in love with Hank.
Director Darren Aronofsky’s camera follows the two lovebirds around a ‘90s New York City set with dirty streets, crime, graffiti and pay phones.
The action-paced chaotic storylines stacks this darkly comic crime-thriller with action from scene to scene and keeps us all guessing. In addition, we are introduced to the coolest cat named Bud who’s hard not to love and adore. Plus, he can defend himself.
He hates strangers but loves Hank. They are completely inseparable. I enjoyed the mixed of an edgy romance that quickly turns violent with multiple mobsters from different parts of New York versus Hank and Bud.
This movie has all the workings of a cult classic, but the screenplay and writing midway through stops just short of producing an edgy new summer blockbuster for all to enjoy for years to come.
Hank’s adventure and bounty on his life begins when Hank’s neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) is told his dad has a suffered a stroke. He needs to leave Bud with him while he catches a last-minute flight in a hurry to care for his dad.
Russ’s departure places the audience into a sudden whirlwind of verbal threats, assault and intimidations made by mobsters labeled as scary monsters by a corrupt NYPD detective played by Regina King who is trying to piece together the developing story for her mobster friends playing both sides.
Her acting was decent, but I felt writers muted her possibilities in this film. All the mobsters kept Hank alive in hopes of being able to recover the money before the other mobsters. This was the one advantage Hank had over his life. The movie is, for sure, a fun first-see but for some moviegoers it didn’t appear to be a hit.
Bad Bunny makes a cameo appearance as mobster Colorado, but his acting was not as much fun to watch as when he had us laughing at his lines in “Happy Gilmore 2.”
Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio were both fairly good portraying their roles of Lipa and Shmully in “Caught Stealing.”
I expected a little more, however, given their respected prized roles in previous films.
Again, I loved how Hank and Bud the cat held a solid role throughout the film.
To me, it made it fun again to have a cat as a partner in crime.
I won’t spoil the film.
Just keep in mind the ending is not as explosive as the start of the film.
Grade: B
