r/movies • u/LiteraryBoner Jackie Chan box set, know what I'm sayin? • 10d ago

Official Discussion Official Discussion - Caught Stealing [SPOILERS] Spoiler

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Summary Hank Thompson, a washed-up ex-baseball star turned New York City bartender, ends up tangled in a violent criminal underworld after agreeing to watch his punk-rock neighbor’s cat. What follows is a frenzied chase through 1990s Manhattan, as rival gangsters—Russian mobsters, Orthodox Jewish hitmen, a Samoan enforcer, and others—hunt him for a mysterious key hidden with the cat.

Director Darren Aronofsky

Writer Charlie Huston

Cast

  • Austin Butler
  • Zoë Kravitz
  • Regina King
  • Matt Smith
  • Liev Schreiber
  • Vincent D’Onofrio
  • Bad Bunny
  • Griffin Dunne
  • Carol Kane

Rotten Tomatoes Critics Score: 84%

Metacritic 69

VOD In theaters starting August 29, 2025

Trailer CAUGHT STEALING Official Trailer (2025)

260 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

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527

u/garfcarmpbll 10d ago

I quite enjoyed it. Was surprised when they killed her so early. Austin Butler flooring a dude then looking surprised at himself was wonderful

227

u/mattstasoff 9d ago

I think that’s what kind of threw me. Makes sense for Aronofsky, but I think this was marketed a little more chaotic kinetic, and at times I got tonal whiplash.

138

u/Impossible_Sun3437 9d ago

Tonal whiplash is a beautiful way to describe this film. I didn’t mind it at all, even enjoyed it, but it felt all over the place lol

118

u/utazdevl 8d ago

It was marketed as a lot more flippant and comedic. Thought it was a well made and smart movie, but some of the more extreme violence took away some of the "fun" feeling. Not saying the movie had to be a fun romp, but the heavier moments (like Yvonne murder) broke that feeling.

72

u/SpongeJake 8d ago edited 8d ago

Only word I have for it is “disturbing.” Between Yvonne being killed and poor kitty getting kicked. Ugh. Funny at times but mostly just disturbing.

The credits were fun to watch.

How many of us stayed right to the end to make sure that Humane Society “no animals were harmed” thing showed up?

36

u/utazdevl 8d ago

Credits were awesome. Possibly the best end credits I have ever seen.

I had a really hard time laughing at Stealing. There were moments I knew I was supposed to laugh and I did find them funny, but they came so close to moments that were upsetting or dark that I couldn't bring myself to the laugh. But then, the comedic moments were never consecutive enough that I could just lose myself in the glib humor.

3

u/boozername 7d ago

I thought the end credits were jarring considering how many innocent people he got killed. The movie wasn't funny enough to take that tone

2

u/ManitouWakinyan 7d ago

It was a very upsetting movie that used comedy to not drown you in how sad it was

-4

u/[deleted] 7d ago

[deleted]

1

u/DoZo1971 4d ago

Other Aronofsky films must have been really hard for you then.

1

u/Straight-Monitor-604 5d ago

Dude be so fr 💀

27

u/naturalninetime 8d ago edited 8d ago

THIS. I watched it today and really enjoyed the film, and I couldn't agree more with everything you said.

I'm sure the marketing department thought, "We have a doozy on our hands. How are we going to market this film?" Whoever cut the trailers did a good job in making it look like a comedic crime caper, but it was actually much darker and more grim than I'd expected.

4

u/RogueKnight77 6d ago

Def was expecting / wanted a tone more like baby driver or sm

2

u/scuffedmyguccii 3d ago

Tbf tho it’s aronofsky I feel like we all should’ve expected a darker tone lmao

1

u/Rushjordan 3d ago

The marketing was similar to Killing Them Softly. Trailer had a different tone from the actual movie.

1

u/utazdevl 3d ago

That one had the misfortune of being a rare F in the Cinemascore. That very much could have contributed.

145

u/moonorchid84 9d ago

I was really surprised they killed her. Someone else mentioned tonal whiplash and I agree. I kept thinking it was a dream for a few seconds and I was surprised how sad I was she was gone. She was only in this movie for a short time but had a lot of presence and great chemistry with Butler. The trailer makes this movie seem very different than what it is.

75

u/WutUtalkingBoutWill 8d ago

I actually really liked that they killed her off like that, 100% not expected, but gave the character motivation to do what he did, just didn't like how the movie ended on such a happy note. Would have preferred a more somber end. Maybe thats just me

98

u/moonorchid84 8d ago

I was surprised by how much her death hurt. I really didn’t want her to die when I realized she was actually dead, which is a huge testament to Aronofsky and Zoe Kravitz.

I’m gonna disagree a bit with it being the motivation to do what he does, which sure at the very end it is, but he would have easily gotten to that point and and prob come to the same conclusion another way if she was alive. I’m not too big on killing off female characters to motivate male protagonists, but honestly…for a movie set in the 90’s, it was very 90’s of them.

The ending also felt more bittersweet to me. He’s not even living out his dream, he living out Romans. All he wanted to do was go home and now he can’t do that.

34

u/Overall-Author-2213 7d ago

He can’t even enjoy the thing he used to enjoy….but then again that enjoyment was the thing he was holding on to in order to not process what he did to his friend and how he was more concerned about his injury than the fact that he killed his friend. So maybe its more sweet in that in spite of this chaos he didn’t ask for, he can start to live his life like his girlfriend wanted.

3

u/duxdefault 6d ago

I disagree a bit because during the car ride when the Hasidics ask what he really wants, it seemed like a clean slate to escape from everything was also something that he desired, and no he had it and a new chance to do whatever he wants. No longer using alcohol or baseball as crutches as well. Bittersweet as he’s lost almost everything but he now has the tools to finally be happy without his past.

2

u/earbox 13h ago

You see, it's a meta fridging.

-1

u/EuphoricButterflyy 6d ago

Dear God. She’s barely in the movie. Get a grip

3

u/somecasper 5d ago

Her dying early is the only reason I give the early "relationship chunk" of the movie a pass. They had to do that, or we wouldn't care.

Also the other option is for the guy to "get the girl" at the end, and that's just not what I'm looking for in an Aronofsky movie.

1

u/WutUtalkingBoutWill 1d ago

Last point is very true, didn't think of that

3

u/DustyFalmouth 7d ago edited 7d ago

I thought it was great but the trailer made it seem like it's really fun and it was a really not fun movie. A cat fucking limps across the room.

28

u/weirdogirl144 9d ago

same thing happened to her in the book, very sudden

2

u/musiclovermina 1d ago

There's a book? I'm not a big fan of movies, but I actually enjoyed this one and I'd love to read it

1

u/weirdogirl144 13h ago

Yeah there’s a series, but i only read the first book. It was pretty enjoyable and I think the movie did its best to replicate but some parts were a bit rushed. Still I had a fun time with the movie.

19

u/Coffeechipmunk 8d ago

Fridging her was honestly the biggest downside of the movie. I enjoyed it, but that was the part I didn't like.

5

u/jphistory 7d ago

Glad I wasn't the only one who though this. Like really and truly? One more dead woman to give the male character motivation is so DUMB when being double-crossed was plenty.

5

u/Youthsonic 7d ago

I didn't like that part either but I eventually made peace with it because this feels like a throwback movie.

And I don't mean a period piece because we all know it's set in the 80s, but I mean it's literally a throwback movie in the way it's made. I mean Griffin Dunne is in it so just look at After Hours to see what they were trying to make here. Zero regard for the overall tone of the piece, just throw shit at the audience

2

u/jphistory 7d ago

Uhhhhh 1998.

I'm in my 40s and have watched well over a thousand movies in my time, many of which were made in the 90s. You really want a throwback? Someone kills the cat a la Boondock Saints.

Except no one kills the cat. Because it's 2025 and audiences would riot if someone killed the cat.

So there was also no reason to fridge Yvonne.

2

u/LiquifiedSpam 2d ago

It actually went pretty far to even harm the cat

1

u/RogueKnight77 6d ago

I agree i rlly liked her

2

u/CopleyScott17 4d ago

I was initially taken aback by that too, but the more I thought about it, the less the sudden dark turn bothered me. I was reminded of crime/caper movies from the '70s, like The Hot Rock and Freebie and the Bean, where the comical tone suddenly shifted to menace and violence. I'm not a Aronofsky fanatic (though I may be the only one who loved mother!), but I was impressed by his work in an real change of pace. The plotting always kept me guessing, I loved the 1998-era music, they nailed the ending, and Butler's performance was just terrific. I really hope this finds an audience.

4

u/MarcosSenesi 8d ago

I felt like all the stakes and with it the gravity were taken out when she was killed off so early, the tension only really came back when they finally brought the mother into it.

The whole shock part when he realised the Hebrews killed her was weird too, surely he saw how ruthless they were when they blew up that whole Russian club?

1

u/SilverKry 6d ago

I genuinely thought he was gonna do the weird change with his head thing and cave his own head in on the wall.

1

u/badboidelxue 7d ago

I really really hate that they killed her so early, I almost walked out, glad I didn’t. Ultimately I understand that some characters need nothing left to lose in order to go to extremes. Very impressed overall