Few directors have messed with my mind more than Darren Aronofsky. From Requiem for a Dream to Mother!, we’ve gone to some dark places over the years. For his contribution to the 2025 movie calendar, however, the filmmaker may be going down a slightly different path with Caught Stealing. Critics have seen the crime thriller, which has Austin Butler dominating an overall impressive cast, and surprisingly, the word “scuzzy” comes up more than once.
Caught Stealing is an adaptation of the book of the same name by Charlie Huston (who also wrote the screenplay). At the center of the movie is Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), a retired baseball player who finds himself in the middle of New York City’s criminal network in the 1990s. In CinemaBlend’s review of Caught Stealing, Eric Eisenberg says the movie teeters on being derivative but ultimately delivers a mystery that combines thrills and fun. He rates it 3.5 out of 5 stars, writing:
