Take me out to Darren Aronofsky’s ball game of a crime comedy.
Darren Arnonosky is a filmmaker who specializes in surreal, dramatic, and psychological films. His lists includes “Pi,” “Requiem for a Dream,” “The Fountain,” “The Wrestler,” “Black Swan,” “Noah,” “Mother,” and “The Whale.” Never would have dreamed he would take a different approach:the comedic crime caper approach that Guy Ritchie would appreciate. And the movie to take that approach is “Caught Stealing,” which also combines baseball, drinking, gangsters, superglue, kidney operations, and cats, and it all keeps you going.
In terms of the comedy crime caper genre, it’s probably the movie I was hoping for with “Americana” and “Honey Don’t.” Yes, it can be a bit much in the screenplay (which was written by Charlie Huston, who also wrote the book), but at least the characters aren’t annoying or cliched. In fact, Aronofsky takes risks with the genre, and tries not to take the easy way out.
It could look and feel like an Aronofsky movie with the cinematography that looks gloomy and serious. It’s photographed by Matthew Libatique, who is a frequent collaborator with the filmmaker, so there’s still a dangerous touch to the look.
And it could feel like an Aronosky film with the set-up. The year is 1998. Austin Butler plays Hank Thompson, a New York bartender, who would have been a baseball star if he wasn’t in a car accident that costed his career and best friend (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai). I don’t think he’s been able to drive a car since, and there is a subplot when the young man must give up the booze.
Here’s where the crime caper swings. Hank’s punk neighbor Russ (Matt Smith with an orange and yellow Mohawk) leaves for a family emergency in London, and asks Hank to watch his cat. But he also didn’t tell him that Russian mobsters (Yuri Kolokolnikov and Nikita Kukushkin), a dirty cop (Regina King), a Hispanic gangster (Bad Bunny) and Jewish mobsters (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio) all want what Russ has. Whatever it is they want, it has something to do with a key. You bet it does.
This puts Hank in a very difficult position, as his paramedic girlfriend (Zoe Kravitz), his mother in another state (Cameo Guest Star Alert!!), and the cat are all at risk.
It would take a lot of nerve for Aronosky to push himself in a different direction. After all, “Mother” was loathed by half of society and he did give Brendan Fraser his Oscar-winning role in “The Whale.” “Caught Stealing” is a different kind of Aronofsky film, but I mean that as a compliment. There are a lot of good laughs and a lot of dangerous situations. It feels like he’s trying to disguise himself as Guy Ritchie or maybe even Edgar Wright when he directed “Baby Driver.”
“Caught Stealing” break no grounds in the screenplay, but, like I said, it refuses to take the easy way out, when certain things happen, which I can’t reveal here. It’s violent, crazy (even the end credits are shaky and often flip around like it’s a punk rock movie), and often very funny. Butler delivers the right kind of vulnerabilities and attitude as a washed up baseball player who finds himself in the criminal underworld and struggles to understand why. I also like how Smith has a goofy appeal while dressing up like some kind of punk rocker, and how King delivers with a wolf in sheep’s clothing attitude, and the results aren’t predictable.
And the movie likes to combine the gangsters of different ethnicities without being too discriminatory. In fact, they can comical and honest with the right appeal. And Carol Kane does have an appealing cameo in the Jewish side of the story. There’s a lot “Caught Stealing” wants to throw at us, and it’s entertaining all through third base.
