Jeri Jacquin
Currently on Digital and coming to 4K UHD, Bluray and DVD from director Darren Aronofsky and Sony Pictures Home Entertainment is the chase when CAUGHT STEALING.
Hank (Austin Butler) is living in the Lower East Side spending his nights as a bartender at the local watering hole. The one thing you can be sure of is that Hank is a die-hard San Francisco Giants fan and shares that fandom with his own mother. His love life includes the lovely Yvonne (Zoe Kravitz) who accepts Hank for all his craziness and baseball antics. After a shift at work, they head to his apartment and met by Russ (Matt Smith), a nutty neighbor who is on his way out of town.
That wouldn’t be a bother to the couple except for one small, little, furry thing – his cat Bud. As much as Hank would like to pass, Yvonne agrees in his stead. A few hours later, there are two very strange individuals outside Russ’ door. Pavel (Nikita Kukushkin) and Aleksei (Yuri Kolokolnikov) want to have a little talk with the cat owner. When Hank doesn’t provide them with any information, well, the hospital has a new kidney patient! Getting home, Yvonne lets him know that his life needs changing, especially when Det. Elise Roman (Regina King) visits to find out why he was attacked.
She fills him in on who the Russians were that attacked him, as well as their leader Colorado (Benito Martinez Ocasio or Bad Bunny if you like), and warns him that there are two more monsters coming for Russ – the Drucker brothers Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio). Hank is thoroughly confused because he has no idea what they want from him. Looking for what could be so important that Russ has, he begins a search and discovers something interesting in the litter box. In the meantime, he’s being chased by the Drucker brothers and learns nobody that’s involved in this is beyond the horrible.
Hank has to get out of his own head and get into the game because there is one thing depending on him to fix all of this – Bud the cat!
Butler as Hank is dealing with a trauma from high school but keeps himself together working at the local bar and spending time with his girlfriend. Quick witted with her and liked by patrons, he seems happy with his life. When the neighbor asks for a favor is when his world is introduced to some very strange happenings and even stranger people. Butler flows seamlessly through the chaos that has entered his characters life and there isn’t a moment of down time. Not bad with the cat either.
King as Det. Roman is hardly in the mood to baby Hank. She is director, forward and makes it clear that the Russians aren’t the only people that are vicious. I love when King takes a role and just runs away with it and Det. Roman can be added to the list. I just adore her. Ocasio as Colorado is an interesting character that definitely needed more screen time to fully understand the big question – what is he saying? <insert maniacal laugh here>.
Schreiber and D’Onofrio as the Hasidic brothers who are in business to make money and don’t take kindly to anyone else handling their money it a bit of comedy in itself. Taking Hank to their Bubbe’s house made my jaw drop and then I broke out laughing. It’s twisted comedy and I am here for it. Kukushkin and Kolokolnikov as the crazy Russians get to play the stereotype of the bad guys. They love beating people up and have no problem being chastised for doing it, in fact, it makes them want to do it more.
Shout out to Smith as Russ who is the reason I don’t do favors for neighbors and Kravitz as Yvonne as the girl who is so accepting of Hanks ways.
Other cast include Will Brill as Jason, Action Bronson as Amtrak, George Abud as Duane, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai as Dale, Griffin Dunne as Paul, Carol Kane as Bubbe, Tonic as Bud and Laura Dern as Mom.
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Special Features include Aronofsky: The Real Deal, Casting Criminals, Chaos and a Cat, New York Story and I Don’t Drive.
CAUGHT STEALING is a little bit of everything, thriller, chase, mystery, cat, revenge, Mom, football and money. The cinematography is very cool with the 1990’s look and we are taken back to that time when there is a payphone being used – Google that if you’re a little stumped on what a payphone is. The film is so quick paced that there isn’t a lot of ‘getting to know’ the characters in-depth besides Hank. That doesn’t mean it isn’t a fun ride through it all and the cast is brilliant.
Aronofsky has shown up with some amazing films like THE FOUNTAIN (2006), BLACK SWAN (2010), MOTHER! (2017) and THE WHALE (2022). This is the only film that I found my self laughing and then wondering if I should have been, only to laugh again. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy Aronofsky’s dark films, and there are moments of dark in the film, but I enjoyed where this film took me. It must be said that with all the dogs in film, it was nice to see a cat front and center, well done Tonic.
In the end – one small favor leads to one big problem!
