Watching “Caught Stealing,” you can’t help but wonder what attracted filmmaker Darren Aronofsky to the project.

Sure, you figure he’d read and enjoyed the novel of the same name by Charlie Huston on which it’s based, and, yes, that happened nearly two decades ago, according to the production notes for the movie version sliding into theaters this week.

But this relatively lightweight tale of a former high school baseball phenom-turned-bartender who becomes entangled in the criminal underworld of New York City is so different from his more ambitious works. That this comes from the man who directed 2000’s “Requiem for a Dream,” 2006’s “The Fountain,” 2010’s “Black Swan” and 2017’s underappreciated “Mother!” is tough to believe. If you squint, maybe the more-grounded-in-reality “Caught Stealing” shares some things in common with 2008’s “The Wrestler” and 2022’s “The Whale,” but not much.

The key thing to know is Aronofsky was living in Manhattan’s East Village in the late 1990s — the primary setting of the story — when he made his first feature, “Pi” (1998), and calls the New York of that time “peak humanity.”

Well, the uneven but ultimately vaguely enjoyable “Caught Stealing” is far from peak Aronofsky, but his adoration of the time, place and source material is evident in the frame.

Austin Butler is our hero, who, following a car accident years ago, still has a beautiful baseball swing but not the knee that would allow him to compete in the majors. He still roots passionately for his hometown San Francisco Giants — his hope was to have been drafted years ago by the team in the middle of the first round of Major League Baseball’s draft — although he otherwise has assimilated into late-night New York life.

We meet him near the end of his shift behind the bar of a watering hole around closing time, 4 a.m., when he’s paid a visit by Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), who’s running hot after her shift as a paramedic and wants to spend the night at his apartment.

It is there, not long after, that he encounters a couple of Russian mobsters looking for his next-door neighbor and punk-rock enthusiast, Russ (a hilariously mohawked Matt Smith of “House of the Dragon”), who’s bolted to England, allegedly to see his ill father. Hank’s meeting with the goons goes poorly, and wakes in the hospital down a kidney.

That means no more booze for him, Yvonne says — and this is a man who’d enjoyed “the breakfast of champions” upon waking about 1 p.m. after his night with her.

Hank doesn’t know what the Russians were hoping to find at Russ’, and he tells as much to a police detective, Elise Roman (Regina King), who says she thinks he’s hiding something. Not long after this meeting, he is — a key he’s found Russ has hidden. And, to add to his issues, Hank also is being hunted by Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio) and Lipa (Liev Schreiber), a pair of Orthodox Jewish brothers who respect their religious tradition while also being comfortable toting machine guns and killing as needed.

Battered but not broken, Hank stays on the move, desperate to find a way out of this situation with his life — and with the safety of someone who means a great deal to him.

Butler (“Elvis,” “The Bikeriders”) — giving off young Brad Pitt vibes, as he sometimes does — is reasonably compelling as our flawed but likable protagonist. He’s pained when he misses a call back home to Mom, who also lives and dies with the Giants, and he grows more and more desperate to protect Buddy, the cat Russ left with him.

Butler’s scenes with Kravitz (“The Batman,” “Big Little Lies”) have that certain spark, and we wish “Caught Stealing” offered more of them. She brings needed humanity to the affair as Yvonne, who’s increasingly desperate for Hank to get his stuff together.

Aside from that, Schreiber, D’Onofrio and Smith are playful in their roles, but they don’t really move the needle.

King, meanwhile, who’s wildly talented and an Academy Award winner for 2019’s “If Beale Street Could Talk,” either is going through the motions here or not right for the role of the cop at the middle of the madness. It’s borderline shocking that the actor doesn’t add more to the proceedings.

Behind the camera, working from Huston’s screenplay, Aronofsky brings a few artistic flourishes to “Caught Stealing,” such as nifty camera work during a sequence in which Hank maneuvers through fire escapes while trying to avoid the bad guys. And we appreciate the lived-in griminess of the New York City he’s given us here. Still, you’d expect something beyond this from him.

It’s clear Aronofsky wanted, for once, to make a fun movie, and he says as much in the production notes. And “Caught Stealing,” boosted by original songs by English punk rockers Idles, IS fun … but only kinda and, at best, off and on.

It’s also largely, although not entirely, predictable.

Ultimately, It’s the kind of movie that can wait. Given that offerings from the film’s studio, Sony’s Columbia Pictures, tend to end up on Netflix sooner than later, the recommendation here is to visit Aronofsky’s New York of 1998 from the comfort of your living room down the line.

———

'CAUGHT STEALING'

2.5 stars (out of 4)

MPA rating: R (for strong violent content, pervasive language, some sexuality/nudity and brief drug use)

Running time: 1:47

How to watch: In theaters Aug. 29

———

©2025 The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio). Visit The News-Herald (Willoughby, Ohio) at www.news-herald.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.