| Sony Pictures Releasing | Release Date: August 29, 2025 | CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION | ||
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Positive:
32
Mixed:
14
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews
Who better to lead us into this netherworld than a late-night bartender, the kind who is still slinging shots at 4 a.m.? As Hank, Austin Butler turns in yet another starburst performance in Darren Aronofsky’s careening, sordid, often hilarious noir about a man on the run in a metropolis abounding with weirdos, poseurs and goons.
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ColliderAug 27, 2025
Caught Stealing, on the surface, doesn’t look like what we expect from an Aronofsky film, and yet, once you dive deeper, it seems like the most obvious version of a dramedy crime-thriller that the director could make. The film isn’t afraid to get its hands dirty and go to some truly dark places, yet it always manages to come back to a place where this story becomes entertaining again.
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The PlaylistAug 29, 2025
If you’re seeking an escapist popcorn-like thriller, Caught Stealing should do the trick. But if you’re yearning for something more substantive, you may end up feeling slightly swindled. Still, credit Aronofsky for picking your pocket with a deft touch, and stealing a base with style.
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Truth be told, the latest Darren Aronofsky film, which Oakland native Charlie Huston adapted from his own novel, is well made and contains terrific performances. It is a true original. But it’s also depressingly soul-killing and nihilistic, with a plot twist that fairly deep-sixes it for this critic.
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The ways in which Caught Stealing could be a more substantial, thematically complex outing are readily apparent, and you can almost feel the movie straining to be just a little smarter, a little more character-driven than it is. The result is a movie that’s very fun, but weirdly unambitious for Aronofsky.
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Caught Stealing is a very different vibe, the furthest thing from an Oscar play but still a surprisingly enjoyable time, a movie where even the end credits have real life and spontaneity to them. And in many ways, it’s still recognizably an Aronofsky movie — which is perhaps its most remarkable achievement.
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Next Best PictureAug 30, 2025
The story strains to keep momentum as it juggles twists and character threads, and while Aronofsky ties things together in a satisfying way for some, others may find the ending underwhelming. Still, in a summer crowded with blockbusters that failed to meet expectations, Caught Stealing stands out as one of the few worth revisiting.
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iAug 27, 2025
Caught Stealing’s zany mix of comedy and drama tests your patience at times – though its crackerjack sexual tension is hard to argue with, and Austin Butler is a genuine, stop-and-take-notice screen presence. His charisma may well hold the whole inchoate package together, as he stammers and shrugs his way through the electric energy of the city.
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IndieWireAug 27, 2025
For all the texture of the film, which was shot in and around a New York City vibrantly retrofitted to the story’s 1998-set specifications (costumes, music, locations, the whole kit), the hammy way important beats and plot points are served up feels out of step. It doesn’t pop, at least until the film’s final act, which finally brings together Aronofsky’s disparate parts and shows an inkling of what the filmmaker was attempting to capture.
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In Caught Stealing, Aronofsky drops the viewer into an older New York as another artistic exercise, but renders it as a playground for bloody and one-dimensional silliness. His skill as a cinematic storyteller is on display—I just missed the narrative depth and danger that used to come with the elegant shots.
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