Darren Aronofsky is a director people either love or hate, with very little in between, and has been accused of taking his projects a bit too seriously a time or two. His films, such as Requiem for a Dream, Black Swan, and The Whale, are visceral, raw, and meant to be off-putting in a way that few others can pull off. Which is why it’s pretty surprising that his most recent movie was one that so few people saw in theaters. But now it’s available to stream on Netflix, and you can decide for yourself if it’s got the makings of an underrated future cult-classic.
Caught Stealing, which premiered earlier this year and stars Matt Smith, Austin Butler, and Zoe Kravitz, is a violent, gritty, and fast-paced adventure reminiscent of 90s classics like Pulp Fiction. It centers around Hank Thompson (Butler), a high-school baseball legend who can no longer play after a traumatizing car accident that we see in bits and pieces throughout the film. He’s left the past behind, though, focusing on his job tending bar and his new life with his girlfriend, Yyvone (Kravitz). He agrees when his punk-rock and mohawked neighbor, Russ (Smith), asks him to watch his cat for a few days while he’s gone, but suddenly finds himself sought after and caught up with a group of violent gangsters intent on killing him, with no idea why they’re after him in the first place.
Caught Stealing Is A Campy, Trippy, Good Time
It’s got that trademark Aronofsky darkness to it, but as Philip Concannon of Sight & Sound says, “It seems like Darren Aronofsky is finally having fun, and for a brisk 107 minutes, so are we.” And critic Charlotte Simmons sums the film up best, stating, “Caught Stealing is an old-school American blockbuster—replete with a movie star, sex appeal, violence, and a handful of chuckles—that, perhaps paradoxically, is about the inevitability of reality, in all its decolonized expanse.”
Caught Stealing is definitely a cult-classic in the making; it’s violent and fun and full of whiplash-inducing twists and turns that will leave viewers on the edge of their seats. You can see where Aronofsky has taken inspiration from films like The Big Lebowski, as well as his signature aesthetics from his own movies—particularly Requiem for a Dream. It delivers on a bloody and brutal good time, and it is absolutely worth a stream.
Will you be streaming Caught Stealing? Let us know in the comments. And then head over to the ComicBook forums to see what other movie fans are saying.