Disclaimer: I’m a blind film critic. The only person standing in your way is you.

Caught Stealing has been called Darren Aronofsky goes mainstream, which is reductive considering he has made wide release films before. It suggests that audiences are incapable of enjoying films of artistic merit. Ironically, caught Stealing made just shy of 20 million off a 40 million dollar budget, which is not quite the success of Black Swan, which made 106 million on a 13 million budget. So, maybe the idea of what mainstream is, perhaps is a falsity in and of itself.

But that’s just being nitpicky. I just rewatched Caught Stealing, and even though it isn’t my favorite work of Aronofsky, it is a really fun, dark, and twisted ride. uneven, confusing at times, but then again, isn’t that what Aronofsky does best? Can you really sit through Mother and believe Aronofsky wasn’t trying to alter the fabric of time and space through one film? He can be incredibly divisive, and not all of his works actually, well, work, but this is one that does. he just has so many classics already, that caught Stealing ends up more like a middle range film for him, or even on the lower end, due to his high rate of consistency. Honestly, I think I’d only put two of his works below this, which isn’t Caught Stealing’s fault, but rather a testament to the legendary nature of watching Darren Aronofsky. we’re so blessed, somehow we let this year happen, and no one is even really talking about how we got a new film from him. We are so spoiled, that we just breezed right I’ve this.

Aronofsky loves challenging leads, often ones on some kind of a mental break, but certainly characters about to go through the wringer. This is true of Brendan Fraser’s soul crushing work in The Whale, Jennifer Lawrence’s madness in Mother, Natalie Portman’s anxiety over perfection, and we can never forget Ellen Burstyn’s tremendous work in requiem For A Dream. Austin Butler plays a baseball player, who is a bit lost now that he’s not playing, and ends up on the wrong side of everything when he agrees to look after a cat. The world of panic inducing, run for your life moments opens like a floodgate the more the film progresses, and Butler realizes he is in way over his head. He had no idea what he was signing up for, and now all these people want something from him he’s not sure he has, or how to find it. Yet, his life, and the life of those he cares about are at risk.

Following Elvis, I just started being happy to hear Butler no longer doing his Elvis voice, which he annoyingly claimed was hard to shake. He’s a star presence, and feels like one of the new A-list, actors trying to break permanently into the zeitgeist to make sure they keep anchoring films like Tom cruise and Brad Pitt, as opposed to being reliant on Avatar like Sam Worthington, or disappearing into streaming films. Butler is a likeable, charismatic lead, so even when he’s flawed, he is easy to root for.

The supporting cast is a jumbled mess. Regina King comes out unscathed, playing a detective you remain uncertain about the whole time. Is she there to help, or does she want what everyone else wants? Zoey kravitz is lovely in the brief time we get with her, but her role is small, and we’re really only allowed to care about her as a byproduct of Butler. Because she’s his girlfriend, that’s enough? I want more. but I’ve wanted more from so many supporting casts this year, which have bolstered leads without balancing the ensemble.

I also thought Matt Smith was wasted a little too. He doesn’t have a lot of screentime, but like Zoey, makes the case that his screentime should be extended as, like Zoey, he is excellent in the little he offers. However, I was oddly attached to the duo of Vincent D’Onofrio and Liev Schrieber, who play Hasidic Jewish mafia guys, and the idiosyncratic nature of how their characters exist and interact in here is fascinating. they feel like the Travolta/Jackson pairing in Pulp Fiction, but not at the heart of the film. I would have loved to get to know them even more, as they, like King, were standouts.

Aronofsky can direct the hell out of frenzied and frenetic moments, and makes the most out of them, but the film ultimately feels a little like the plot is collapsing on itself and we’re losing the main thread. I want baseball to play a bigger part, I want butler to have a reckoning when he realizes what he’s gotten himself into, and how this should really be someone else’s problem. He seems to have enough going on. this also has the cat from A Quiet Place: Day one, which makes no natural cat sounds. It is my understanding the cat is pure VFX, which was the case for most if not all of A quiet Place: Day one. But, cats can be very vocal, and I missed that here too.

So, it isn’t perfect. the title is an allusion to baseball, as you get caught stealing a base. He’s a baseball player. but somehow, there just isn’t enough baseball worked in here. It is always in the rear view. Still, a wonderful lead performance from butler, some challenging direction from Aronofsky, and supporting cast that all kill it, just some with the recognition their characters needed more depth, Caught Stealing is worth catching, or paying for. don’t steal it. Leave piracy to Johnny Depp.

Quietly, Darren Aronofsky reminds us he’s still one of the best directors alive right now, and does so through a mainstream dark crime thrill ride, and an excellent ensemble of gifted actors.

this film has audio description, and it is so weird. Roy Samuelson is clearly the narrator, but no one took credit for it. Roy has done enough narration to get that instant recognition, but at the same time, this trend of having no credits makes it hard to complain to anyone if there’s a problem. Stop not crediting your companies. I see this more and more, and it makes me want to catch you, and steal… something. I’m not sure what, but I’m trying to stay in the spirit of the film.

What is even more baffling, is that it is a good track. It hit its marks. there’s this brutal car accident, and the graphic detail was done so well. I got to hear Roy use the word “turd” as he referenced a cat’s litter box. there’s a lot to celebrate here, but the writer gets no credit, and the company is too scared to claim it. Be bold. Make choices. Give your talent the credit they deserve.

Fresh: Final Grade: 6.7/10