Caught Stealing: A Review

CAUGHT STEALING

Crime capers do not come as fast, as furious, or as amusing as Caught Stealing. With strong performances and a well-paced story, Caught Stealing works as a breezy if a bit gruesome crime caper.

Former baseball phenom Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) is still devoted to his hometown San Francisco Giants. That does, however, make him an outlier in gritty 1998 Lower East Side New York City. Here, Hank tends bar while drinking and having a mostly sexual relationship with Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz). 

Just before another one-night stand with Yvonne, Hank is interrupted by his next-door neighbor, Russ Miner (Matt Smith). The punk rocker asks Hank for a simple favor: watch Russ' cat Bud while he has to fly back home to London due to his father's sudden illness. Hank would rather not, but Yvonne takes a liking to Bud.

This seemingly simple favor soon sends Hank into a maelstrom of chaos, crime and murder. Russian mobsters want something that Russ has. They viciously beat Hank, thinking that he has what they are after. This brings in New York Detective Roman (Regina King), who seems willing to help. However, things are not what they appear.

The Russian mobsters are also working with a Puerto Rican kingpin, Colorado (Benito Martinez Ocasio, better known as Bad Bunny). Colorado threatens Hank. This comes after the Russians' attack forced Hank to have his kidney removed. It also comes after Yvonne is murdered. Oh, and there are two Hasidic Jews who had at one point followed Hank.

What is their role in all this? Who killed Yvonne? These stories are tied to a key that Hank found in Bud's litter box, hidden in a plushy toy. Now we find that Roman is in on the take, and the bodies start piling up. That includes Hank's boss Paulie (Griffin Dunne) and Colorado. Things do not clear up when Russ returns. He clears up some things. Russ has been selling drugs for the Hasidic Jews, who are the Drucker Brothers. Russ, fearing for his life, had gotten the corrupt Roman and the Russians into this scheme. If not for his father's sudden illness and death, Russ would have split the four million dollars between all the parties. Now Russ plans to flee with all of it, with Hank holding the bag.

That, however, won't work for the resourceful Hank. He is determined to live and save his mom, who calls him every day to talk about the Giants race for a wild card postseason spot. How will Hank get out of this situation? Will the Drucker siblings Schmully (Vincent D'Onfrio) and Lipa (Liev Schreiber) be a help or hindrance to Hank? Will Hank be able to heal physically and emotionally from his past, one that cost him both his promising baseball career and his high school friend's life decades past? More people have to die for Hank to see if he can pull himself out.

Caught Stealing deftly balances dark humor with gritty action. We see this when Hank is taken by the Druckers to shabbat dinner. I figure that Charlie Huston's novel (which he adapted for the film) was not deliberately attempting to echo something out of Goodfellas. However, we do have a light moment when Schmully and Lipa's Bubbe (Carol Kane) serves Hank some food. She is told in Yiddish that Hank is half-Jewish, which she accepts. In her brief performance, one senses that Bubbe is not fooled by this goy boy popping in. She also, I think shows that she knows Hank to be a good young man. 

I think almost all the performances in Caught Stealing are good. Austin Butler continues to build up a strong resume with his turn as Hank. He keeps to the humor in the film, such as when he is forced to be nude to show that he's not carrying any weapons. There is a droll manner to the situation that makes for amusing viewing. However, he is also able to show his genuine concern for Yvonne and his mom (Laura Dern in a cameo). Hank is someone who at the end, seems to have fully atoned for his actions that cost him a baseball career and a friend's life. The film reveals this in flashbacks, which never interrupt the overall flow of Caught Stealing.

Moreover, by structuring them in the way they were, the conclusion works well. All of Hank's desperation, lucky breaks, idiocy, heartbreak and cleverness come through in Butler's performance.

Regina King does a standout job as Detective Roman. The audience picks up on how she is an effective, efficient cop. However, you also sense in King's performance that there may be more than she is willing to say. king more than holds her own, showing us both a serious and slightly humorous side. In her small role, Zoe Kravitz did well as Yvonne, the intelligent and caring individual who meets a shocking end. 

I would say that both D'Onfrio and Schreiber leaned a bit more into Yiddish humor as the Druckers (or as Russ calls them, "the Hebrews"). However, as Caught Stealing was a black comedy, I was not troubled by their more deadpan manner. Nikita Kukushkin as Pavel (nicknamed Microbe) and Yuri Kolokolnikov as Alexei were a strong double-act. Pavel was the brutal, intense, probably crazed one. He kept mocking Hank, especially his love for baseball, persistently misquoting Take Me Out to the Ball Game and calling Hank "Mr. Baseball". Alexei was the calmer but no less dangerous of the two. They managed to make the Russians dangerous while keeping just a touch of humor.

One can tell the level of Bad Bunny's acting ability by how Caught Stealing opted to kill him off. Granted, this might be how Colorado (his nickname earned due to his red hair) is in the novel. However, this is the second film where Bad Bunny is killed off pretty quickly. Perhaps Bad Bunny is simply drawn to action comedies where he dies quickly. It gives him a chance to show that he can act while not requiring him to do much acting.

I found Matt Smith the weak link in Caught Stealing. He was not bad in the film. He just seemed a bit too exaggerated as this Cockney punk rocker. Were they still around in 1998? Again, it was not a terrible performance. It just was not the best that I have seen.

Caught Stealing had something of a time capsule manner. I think that was director Darren Aronofsky's intention. The film is full of the era's music. It also has a surprisingly light and breezy manner amidst all the mayhem and murder. The film does have a good score and songs from Rob Simonsen and band Idles respectively. However, the soundtrack also blends time-appropriate songs to some of the situations. 

I recognized Marcy Playground's Sex and Candy playing while Yvonne and Hank flirt with each other. Seeing a drunken Hank both belt out and dance on a pool table to Meredith Brooks' B*tch was amusing. As the Druckers were driving to the Russian club for them to take out the mobsters, we hear Barry Manilow's Copacabana start. The film is, if anything, self-aware. I was, however, surprised that Jane's Addiction's Been Caught Stealing did not make the playlist. I would have thought that would have easily been part of the film. 

Caught Stealing is a sly, clever film. It is logical, or at least within its own world. Running a surprisingly brisk hour and forty-odd minutes, Caught Stealing is a bit gory for my tastes.  Overall, the film is a spry delight. 

DECISION: B+