Austin Butler in a criminal schlep through…
film review
CAUGHT STEALING
Running time: 107 minutes. Rated R (strong violent content, pervasive language, some inappropriateity/nudity and temporary drug use). In theaters.
There is a nasty behavior in Hollywood, and among film critics, of permitting filmmakers to incessantly upchuck the same lame crime retreads.
They are blinded by cartoony underworld figures, seedy alleys, medication and weapons as they blithely overlook the lazy writing, painfully apparent plots, gratuitous violence and chase scenes as enlivening as a Metro North commute.
All of these bruising workouts are almost an identical, besides recently they’ve develop into both blander and more disagreeable than ever.
That’s particularly true of “Caught Stealing,” an aimless schlep with delusions of grandeur starring “Elvis” actor Austin Butler as a Lower East Side bartender named Hank who turns into an unwitting pawn in a narcotics dealing scheme.
Unfortunately, the proficient Darren Aronofsky of “Black Swan” and “The Whale” was caught directing it.
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He’s best identified for psychological thrills set against arrestingly dirty visuals. Aronofsky’s mind goes on summer season break right here. There’s completely nothing intriguing effervescent beneath the floor of this mystifyingly un-fun film that principally takes place below 14th Street.
The yawn of a story is that some foolish thugs covet an unremarkable object. Tale as previous as crime. A gaggle of gangsters and a corrupt police officer are on the hunt for Hank’s pal Russ’ hidden key to a cash-filled storage unit. That’s all, of us.
The closest “Caught Stealing” comes to creating a character to care about is Hank, an alcoholic whose dream of taking part in baseball for the Giants was ended by a deadly, drunken car accident.
Every day he telephones his California mother, during calls that really feel pretend, to chit chat about their favourite group.
Regina King performs a soiled cop in “Caught Stealing,” starring Austin Butler. AP
At evening, Hank relives the crash in his nightmares. Wherever he goes, he stares longingly at bottles of booze. He is compelled to stop consuming after he loses a kidney in a struggle, and then he goes on a bender and strips.
It’s the stuff of eye rolls. Hank’s trauma and habit are cliched and underexplored, and he is solely not attractive enough to carry an complete film.
Butler does brooding effectively. We already knew that. He breathily simmered to great impact all through “Elvis” and “Dune: Part Two.” And he brings his natural leading-man gravitas to this. But Hank is an empty shell of diminishing curiosity.
Hank’s roommate Russ is a British punk performed by Matt Smith. AP
Hank’s girlfriend, Yvonne, performed by Zoë Kravitz? Couldn’t inform you a lot about her besides she always appears jetlagged and is in less of the movie than you’d anticipate.
Russ, meanwhile, is a British punk with a mohawk, who’s given a efficiency by “The Crown”’s Matt Smith that suggests he possibly once noticed a picture of a mohawk.
“Caught Stealing,” based on writer Charlie Huston’s guide I shan’t be studying, is set in 1998, so the east aspect thugs are Russians, Hasidic Jews and Bad Bunny.
Zoe Kravitz doesn’t truly do a entire lot in “Caught Stealing.” ©Sony Pictures/Courtesy Everett Collection
It’s with these barely wacky baddies orbiting Hank that Aronofsky thinks he’s directing a comedy — or his skewed thought of one.
Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Lipa (Liev Schreiber) serve Hank matzo ball soup and make him drive the getaway car because it’s Shabbat.
The soiled cop, Detective Roman (Regina King), delivers a speech about the glory of black-and-white cookies.
None of this is remotely humorous.
Aronofsky tried to dig into the comedy of “Caught Stealing” with characters such as Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio). AP
There’s a bunch of “Scooby Doo” closeups on a cat that, warning to the squeamish, will get abused by the Russians. Perhaps breaking a kitty’s leg will get laughs in Siberia?
In the end, what “Caught Stealing” has stolen is time and expertise.
The only man on the market routinely doing a good job with this style is Guy Ritchie. His output is impeccably solid, hilarious and has badass, thrillingly brutal motion sequences. Unlike the predictable “Caught Stealing,” there are sudden twists.
Aronofsky, whose work I’ve always appreciated, ought to retreat back to the darkish recesses of the psyche and depart the comically darkish underbelly of organized crime to the professionals.
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