Caught Stealing Review – 'Studded with New York grit'

Darren Aronofsky isn’t a director who tends to cut loose. His comfort zone is exploring the darkest depths of misery ( Requiem For A Dream ), Biblical apocalypses ( Noah , mother! ), and characters chasing oblivion ( The Wrestler ). But while there are typically Aronofskian themes at play in Caught Stealing , it is, ostensibly, the filmmaker having fun — a gritty, pacy, propulsive crime thriller, adapted from Charlie Huston’s novel, that grabs Austin Butler by the ankles and drags him screaming further and further into New York’s criminal underbelly. It’s quite the pivot from 2022’s The Whale .

This being Aronofsky, it’s a particularly stressful type of fun. There are shades of After Hours and Uncut Gems in the escalating anxiety-nightmare stakes that Butler’