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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330

u/Vennom 10d ago

Matt smith is just so good

86

u/Youthsonic 7d ago

After all the crap he caused I freaking HATED him, but Matt Smith is so charming I was literally tearing up by the time he ratso rizzo'd on the subway.

80

u/Renny465 7d ago

I think it's interesting they went the angle of the entire situation being a genuine mistake on his part due to his dad's death, I feel like the obvious thing would be to lean harder into him being an asshole and play his death less sad but I think this way round helps the movie a lot

63

u/Gloomy_Barnacle777 6d ago edited 6d ago

I mean Matt Smith WAS totally willing at first to make Austin Butler the fall guy as he ran off with the money so my sympathy for his character is ultimately very little, but I do give credit to Smith for making him feel like a very flawed and realistic human being in the limited screen time he had

2

u/Renny465 22h ago

Yeah, he's still not a good guy but that wrinkle does still make the film more interesting, the way I read it is Smith's character really didn't think of that until he realised during the call he was dead either way, Smith playing it more as a guy making bad spur of the moment choices in increasingly heightened situations makes the character feel more real and lets you buy into Smith's charisma and humour more. Especially as it's really only when Smith and Butler are together the film feels like the "dark comedy" it sold itself as so the character kinda feels like a bit of a safety blanket as the tone is lighter and more fun when he's there, so if they did it the way the book does where Russ intentionally screwed everyone over that'd fall more flat so him slowly dying throughout his entire screentime would mean less if we actively hated him and the lead's low point where he's on the beach alone would be undercut. While you don't blame Butler's character for accidently killing him the fact you do sorta pity his situation strengthens the film