Caught Stealing

Darren Aronofsky is a director I truly admire. His film, Requiem for a Dream is on my list of films to see before you die. I would say any film nerd worth their weight in salt has a healthy respect for the man. His contemporary, Christopher Nolan has achieved more success, more notoriety, than Aronofsky, or at least it seems that way to me. However for me, (I'm about to use a geeky Star Trek analogy) Nolan's films feel like they were directed by Mr. Spock (cold and mathematical). Whereas Aronofsky's films feel like they were directed by Leonard McCoy (passionate, jaded, with a chip on his shoulder). I love Spock with all my being, but McCoy, damn it, well he just might be my favourite. Back to the review!

What's it all about? Caught Stealing is a crime caper very much in the wheelhouse of such directors as Guy Ritchie, the Coen Brothers, and Quentin Tarantino - a fast paced action thriller with lots of seedy gangsters milling about. Austin Butler plays Hank, a once high school baseball prodigy destined for the big leagues, only to have an injury sideline his career. Now he is a bartender and a drunk who is dating Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz). Hank's mohawk sporting punk neighbour, Russ (Matt Smith - of Dr. Who fame, who is wonderful here) suddenly has to leave town and gives his cat to Hank to look after. This is when the bad guys show up and the madness ensues. There have been tons of these mistaken identity type things, a fish out of water mad-capped crime comedies, but this one feels surprisingly fresh. And fun. I haven't enjoyed this type of film in what seems like forever. It's great. For Aronofsky, it's a departure from his dark art-house sadness. There is still plenty of seediness and a whole lot of crazy (Aronofsky trademarks) but it feels light and silly, albeit gruesome and violent at times. It reminded me of Martin Scorsese's After Hours. Caught Stealing is also full of great small performances by Liev Schreiber, Vincent D'Onofrio, and Carol Kane to name a few. Catch this foul ball of fun in theatres now.