Caught Stealing

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Darren Aronofsky directs. Matthew Libatique behind the camera. Rob Simonsen scores. Andrew Weisblum cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in United States of America. Dialogue in Mandarin, English, Russian, Spanish, Yiddish.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

• 1Earned back only 82% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
• 2Released last year.
• 3Dialogue crosses 5 languages: Mandarin, English, Russian, Spanish, Yiddish.
• 4221+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
• 5Directed by Darren Aronofsky, shot by Matthew Libatique. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
• 6Original score by Rob Simonsen. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
• 7Editor Andrew Weisblum shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
• 8Austin Butler and Regina King and Zoë Kravitz carry the top of the cast.
• 9Marketing tagline: "2 Russians, 2 Jews, and a Puerto Rican walk into a bar...".
• 10IMDB entry: tt1493274 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
• 11Classified under 12 themes, including "new york city", "based on novel or book", "cat", "dark comedy".
• 12Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography

Matthew Libatique

Original score

Rob Simonsen

Editing

Andrew Weisblum

Production design

Mark Friedberg

Costume design

Amy Westcott

Makeup / hair

Mandy Bisesti

VFX supervisor

Dan Schrecker

Sound

Craig Henighan

Stunt coordinator

Brian Machleit

Runtime

107 min · 1h 47m

Aspect ratio (typical)

1.37:1 (Academy)

Status

Released

Budget

$40,000,000

Box office

$32,703,294

Return

82% of budget

Original language

EN

Certification (US)

R

IMDB

Caught Stealing (2025) ↗

Also by

Darren Aronofsky

• 
  Requiem for a Dream

  2000 · ★ 8.0
• 
  The Whale

  2022 · ★ 7.8
• 
  Black Swan

  2010 · ★ 7.7
• 
  The Wrestler

  2008 · ★ 7.5
• 
  Pi

  1998 · ★ 7.1
• 
  The Fountain

  2006 · ★ 6.9

Stills · wallpapers

Selected frames

Full-resolution frames — open one to save it as a wallpaper.

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Trailers & featurettes

Watch the pieces

• 

  ▶
  Austin Butler & Zoë Kravitz Kissing Scene

  Clip
• 

  ▶
  9 Minute Extended Preview

  Clip · Official
• 

  ▶
  Soup

  Teaser · Official
• 

  ▶
  Favour

  Teaser · Official
• 

  ▶
  In Cinemas 23 October

  Teaser · Official
• 

  ▶
  Bad Boy

  Teaser · Official

Community reviews

What people are saying

• Manuel São Bento2025-08-27
  ★ 7/10

  FULL SPOILER-FREE REVIEW @ https://fandomwire.com/caught-stealing-review/ "Caught Stealing is the kind of cinema that provokes reactions. Darren Aronofsky once again demonstrates that he's a master of creating experiences that don't digest easily and continue to echo long after the credits roll. Austin Butler delivers an unforgettable performance, charged with magnetism and intensity, capable of elevating every scene to a rare level of authenticity. While some narrative choices are less satisfying, they don't diminish the value of a film that remains an emotionally devastating, compelling journey into the heart of a man torn apart by life. It's an imperfect but powerful story, one that deserves to be seen and discussed with the same passion Aronofsky pours into every project." Rating: B+

  Read full review ↓
• Brent Marchant2025-09-03
  ★ 6/10

  When filmmakers seek to stretch their creative juices by working on projects that aren’t typical of their normal output, they need to get their ducks in a row first if they hope to succeed in these new ventures. In tackling such productions, some have brilliantly broadened their ranges, while others have regrettably failed miserably. Rarely, however, do they fall somewhere in the middle, but such is the case with director Darren Aronofsky’s latest, a comedy/crime thriller that gets some things right and others not so much. Set in 1998, the picture follows the story of a once-promising baseball prospect, Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), whose chances of going pro were ruined by a severe knee injury, forcing him to settle for a routine job as a New York City bartender. It may not be everything he hoped for, but it pays the bills and provides him with a steady supply of his other passion, alcohol. However, his relatively mundane life takes a bizarre left turn one night when his shady, punked-out neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), asks him to babysit his cat when a family emergency calls him home to London. It’s a favor that unwittingly draws Hank into the underbelly of his neighbor’s sordid, crime-ridden life. And, before he knows it, Hank is unexpectedly caught up in a web of theft, murder, mayhem and crooked cops, leaving him surrounded by an array of corpses and impending threats, with all implications pointing toward him as the perpetrator. He’s thus forced to take desperate measures to stay alive and ahead of the law, all the while struggling to protect his feline companion. The premise here is an intriguing one that gets progressively better as the film unfolds. However, it’s somewhat slow to start and features a profoundly dark narrative in the opening act, leaving one to wonder where the alleged comedy of this offering lurks. As the picture progresses, though, the promised (and often-inspired) humor gradually emerges, providing the much-needed comic relief called for to offset the story’s more sinister and decidedly edgier aspects. This welcome development genuinely helps to save the film from itself, a change in tone that’s significantly enhanced by a coterie of colorful supporting characters superbly portrayed by an excellent ensemble featuring the likes of Regina King, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Carol Kane, George Abud, and, of course, Tonic the cat. The film also offers up a fine re-creation of life in 1990s New York down to the finest of details. When these elements are considered collectively, it’s easy to see how the director’s efforts at expanding his vision hit the mark on some points and not on others. In that regard, this offering shows the filmmaker’s promise for tackling projects beyond his typical fare, but a few more ducks need to fall into line before he can truly claim success when embarking on ventures into new territory.

  Read full review ↓
• CinemaSerf2025-09-04
  ★ 7/10

  When “Russ” (Matt Smith) asks his bartending, hard-living, pal “Hank” (Austin Butler) to mind his cat whilst he returns to London to look after his sickening dad, he’s narked but agrees. Little does he realise that “Russ” has been involved with some ne’er-do-wells in the city and so fairly swiftly “Hank” is having to develop an whole new pain threshold as first the Russians, then the Hebrews lay into him. The cops are soon involved and his paramedic girlfriend “Yvonne” (Zoë Kravitz) has to find new ways of stitching a wound - and all for what? “Hank” hasn’t a clue who they are, what they want, or where what they want might actually be? It’s only when the spikey-haired British geezer makes a reappearance that things might start to make some sense - but I wouldn’t bet on it! Now despite the fact that Butler is almost always being beaten up - often clad only in his Calvins - he manages to exude loads of charisma into this daft crime caper. Certainly, it plays fast and loose with medical science and serendipity does intervene once or twice more often than you could realistically expect, but it’s a solid action-adventure feature that is bloody, violent but still darkly entertaining. The scene-stealing Hasidic Hebrews (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio) won’t drive on the sabbath, but gun-toting? Well that appears to be allowed? There’s a manic enforcer who has traits reminiscent of an angry chimpanzee and there’s duplicity at every turn before a denouement that is fairly predictable, but nonetheless enjoyable to savour as the calamities accumulate and the initially gullible “Hank” discovers he and “John Wick” must be distant relatives. There’s a cat, and a bandage - but an American Humane Society disclaimer at the end, so clearly it can act too. It is a bit derivative but it doesn’t hang around and it shows us clearly than Butler isn’t just a pretty face.

  Read full review ↓

Production companies

Who made it

• 

  Protozoa Pictures

  US

• 

  TSG Entertainment

  US

• 

  Columbia Pictures

  US

Key crew

• Executive ProducerAri Haas
• ProducerDarren Aronofsky
• ProducerAri Handel
• Location ManagerRonnie Kupferwasser
• Camera TechnicianJason Velez
• Construction GripKevin Martin
• CarpenterFrank Boccia
• Key GripLamont Crawford
• Construction CoordinatorJoe Alfieri
• Charge Scenic ArtistElizabeth Linn
• Casting AssociateBenjamin Bermudez
• Art Department Production AssistantToby Rivera
• First Assistant DirectorPeter Thorell
• Set Production AssistantBeba Zilkic
• Production ControllerDerek Yip
• Animal WranglerKelly Whitlock
• Animal WranglerCourtney Voth
• Casting CoordinatorLizzie Talbot
• Animal WranglerKaitlynn Purchase
• Production CoordinatorJoseph Perron-Kozar
• Set Production AssistantAmy Muniz
• Dialect CoachTim Monich
• Animal CoordinatorMelissa Millett
• EditorAndrew Weisblum

Themes & keywords

What it's about, really

• new york city
• based on novel or book
• cat
• dark comedy
• baseball bat
• criminal underworld
• duringcreditsstinger
• detached
• 1990s
• dramatic
• suspenseful
• urgent

Release history · US

When it landed

• Theatrical2025-08-29R
• Digital2025-09-30R
• Digital2025-11-29R· Netflix
• Physical2025-11-11R· 4K Ultra HD / Blu-ray / DVD

Also known as

International titles

• 偷天盗日CN
• Pris au piègeCA
• Atrapado robandoAR
• Dopaden při činuCZ
• Κλέφτης από σπόνταGR
• RajtakapvaHU
• Una scomoda circostanza: Caught StealingIT
• Пойман с поличнымKZ
• Złodziej z przypadkuPL
• Apanhado a RoubarPT
• Пойман с поличнымRU
• คนเดือดขวางทางโจรTH
• ضبط بالسرقةEG
• Bala perdidaES