There is some fun to be had in “Caught Stealing”

Austin Butler has built a career out of playing larger-than-life characters, such as Elvis. He is a phenomenal actor and brings his best to these characters. Even in a movie like "The Bike Riders," he is doing something extra. What he hasn't done is play an ordinary, regular dude. It was a bit jarring to see "Caught stealing" and see him doing just that.

Hank (Butler) is a former baseball player turned bartender living in New York City. One night, his friend Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to watch his cat while he goes back to England for a few days. When dangerous people come looking for Russ, Hank is forced into the seedy underworld of 1990s NYC. 

While I have my qualms with the film, I enjoyed it quite a bit. It is a compelling story of a man in over his head. He is being hounded by all the people who think he can lead them to a lot of money. He is just a bartender trying to escape a traumatic past, and these people are making that impossible.

Darren Aronofsky is a director who chooses interesting and complicated projects. This is not one of those. It might be one of his more accessible movies. There is nothing surreal or mystical about "Caught Stealing." It is pretty straightforward as an Aronofsky movie goes. This is probably because he didn't write this one. "Caught Stealing" is based on a book of the same name, written by its author, Charlie Huston, who also wrote the script. 

I first saw Matt Smith as the Eleventh Doctor in "Doctor Who," and it has been awesome to watch his career unfold since then. He has been in a handful of movies (He was the best part of "Morbis") and stars in "House of the Dragon! Russ is essentially a middleman for bad people. Smith makes Russ more charming than he probably should be. Both men have flaws, Hank is definitely an alcoholic, but they overlook those flaws-or actively ignore them- because they are friends. You can see why he and Hank are friends, despite Russ's questionable associations.

6/10

Rated R for strong violent content, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and brief drug use.

1h 47m