Unfortunately, my original movie plans got shuffled around last week, so I ended up catching “Caught Stealing” a whole week ahead of my personal schedule.
Still, I found myself surprised by the time the credits were rolling.
The flick starts out as the standard crummy, criminal neighbor gets the pathetic loser main character into some violent and questionable trouble – however, things aren’t that easily pegged or completely one dimensional.
With brutal action and stereotypical characters all over the place, it’s hard to see how anyone could enjoy this film.
And, had I not seen it myself, I’d usually agree, but this was something I found more enjoyable with the help of the soundtrack.
Caught Stealing is an American dark comedy crime thriller film produced and directed by Darren Aronofsky, from a screenplay written by Charlie Huston, and is based on Huston’s book of the same name.
The film stars Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Benito Martínez Ocasio, Griffin Dunne, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Nikita Kukushkin, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Bad Bunny, George Abud, Action Bronson, Will Brill, and Carol Kane.
Clocking in at 107 minutes long, the movie is rated R for strong violent content, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and brief drug use.
In 1998, Henry “Hank” Thompson (Butler) is a bartender living on the Lower East Side, where his girlfriend Yvonne (Kravitz) works as a paramedic.
He calls his mother in Patterson, Calif., almost every day to discuss their shared love of the San Francisco Giants.
A star baseball prospect in high school, Hank is haunted by a drunken car crash that killed his friend Dale (Woon-A-Tai) and left him with a career-ending knee injury.
Hank’s British punk neighbor Russ (Smith) returns to London to see his ailing father, leaving Hank to care for his cat Bud.
Searching for Russ, two Russian mobsters Aleksei (Kolokolnikov) and Pavel (Kukushkin) viciously beat Hank, resulting in Hank losing a kidney.
After the Russians break into Russ’s apartment, narcotics detective Roman (King) questions Hank and reveals Russ is a drug dealer connected to notorious Hasidic brothers Lipa (Schreiber) and Shmully (D’Onofrio) Drucker.
Finding a key hidden in Bud’s litter box, Hank notifies Roman while the Druckers search Russ’ apartment – armed and dangerous.
After spending a drunken night at Paul’s Bar, Hank leaves his clothes outside his building.
Upon waking the next day, he ends up being interrogated by the Russians and their Puerto Rican associate Colorado (Bunny).
The interrogation serves to only enrage Hank when he finds out that Pavel injured Bud by kicking him.
Hank cannot remember what happened to the key, but the mobsters are interrupted by his neighbor Duane (Abud).
Hank leaves the injured Bud with Yvonne, and remembers taking the key to the bar.
Chased by the Druckers, he informs Colorado regarding the whereabouts of the key, who then ends up mentioning Yvonne.
Realizing she is in danger, he races back to her apartment, only to find she has been shot in the head.
A guilt-stricken Hank confides in Roman, who dreams of retiring to Tulum.
Colo., and the Russians arrive, in league with the corrupt Roman, but they claim not to be responsible for Yvonne’s murder.
Hank is brought to Paul’s, where Colorado kills bar regular Amtrak (Bronson), but Roman kills him before he can also murder Paul.
Lying that the key is in the basement strongroom’s safe, Paul (Dunne) retrieves a shotgun instead, but ends up shot dead.
However, Hank’s still got a run of bad luck ahead of him before he gets his happy ending!
The resolution and final scenes of the film almost make the whole ordeal worth it and I’m always digging the soundtrack, but you should check it out for yourself!
