Produced by Columbia Pictures in association with Protozoa Pictures, Caught Stealing was released in the United States by Sony Pictures Releasing on August 29, 2025. The film has received generally positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Butler's performance and Aronofsky's direction.
In 1998, Henry "Hank" Thompson is an alcoholic bartender living in the Lower East Side. He calls his mother in Patterson, California every day, especially to discuss their shared love of the San Francisco Giants. A star baseball prospect in high school, Hank is haunted by a drunken car crash that killed his friend Dale and left him with a career-ending knee injury.
Hank's British punk neighbor Russ Binder returns to London to see his ailing father, leaving Hank to care for his cat, Bud. Searching for Russ, two Russian mobsters, Aleksei and Pavel, viciously beat Hank, resulting in Hank losing a kidney, as well as his ability to drink. After the Russians break into Russ's apartment, narcotics detective Elise Roman questions Hank and reveals Russ is a drug dealer connected to notorious Hasidic brothers Lipa and Shmully Drucker. Finding a key hidden in Bud's litter box, Hank notifies Roman when the Druckers search Russ's apartment. After spending a drunken night at Paul's Bar, Hank leaves his clothes outside his building. Interrogated by the Russians and their Puerto Rican associate Colorado, Hank cannot remember what happened to the key, but the mobsters are interrupted by his neighbour Duane. Hank leaves the injured Bud with his girlfriend Yvonne, and remembers taking the key to the bar. Chased by the Druckers, he informs Colorado, who mentions Yvonne. Suddenly realizing she is in danger, he races back to her apartment only to find she has been killed.
A guilt-stricken Hank confides in Roman, who tells him of her dreams of retiring to Tulum before revealing herself to be in league with Colorado and the Russians. Roman claims that her gang are not the group responsible for Yvonne's murder. Hank is brought to Paul's Bar, where an altercation sees the killings of Amtrak and Colorado. Lying that the key is in the basement strongroom's safe, Paul retrieves a shotgun but is killed in the ensuing chaos. Hank locks himself in the strongroom, forcing the others to leave empty-handed. Hank recovers the key from the homeless Jason, left in the clothes he abandoned. Russ returns home, but is hit in the head with a baseball bat when Hank mistakes him for an intruder. Russ explains that after selling drugs for the Druckers in Colorado's nightclubs, he was forced to involve Roman, who owes money to the Russians' boss. The key unlocks a storage unit with just over $4 million he was meant to split between the various parties on the day he left for London. Fearing for his life, Russ prepares to take the money and flee the country, leaving Hank as the fall guy, but Hank knocks him unconscious.
Meeting Roman and the Russians at Flushing Meadows, Hank offers them Russ and the key in exchange for Bud. Russ panics, killing Aleksei with Pavel's gun before escaping with Hank and Bud, and suggests that Roman might have been the one who killed Yvonne. They escape through a crowd at Shea Stadium onto the subway, where a severely concussed Russ succumbs to his injuries, and Hank boards a bus with Bud to Coney Island. Hank is woken on the beach by a call from Roman, who has framed him for the various murders and threatens his mother by telling Hank her address, demanding he bring the key to the Russians' supper club. Calling to warn his mother, Hank surrenders himself to the Druckers. They agree to kill Roman in exchange for Hank leading them to the money, first bringing him to their grandmother's Shabbos dinner. Hank is zip-tied to the car's steering wheel while the heavily armed brothers storm the club.
Spotting Roman, Hank burns his restraints with the car lighter and gives chase with a bat. He subdues a vengeful Pavel and manages to injure Roman by impaling her foot with the broken baseball bat handle, at which point the Druckers arrive and shoot her dead. Hank reveals he hid the key in the bandage on Bud's leg, and the sympathetic brothers decide to let him live with a share of the money. They force him to drive for the first time since his crash, when Hank notices that Lipa has Yvonne's lighter. Realizing the implication, the brothers admit they killed Yvonne to send a message to Hank for evading them. Aware that he is the only one wearing a seat belt, Hank increases speed and purposefully crashes the car into a steel pillar, mirroring the crash of his earlier life, this time killing the two brothers. Some time later, Hank poses as Russ, using his British passport to escape the country with Bud and half of the money. Calling his mother to let her know he is safe, Hank arrives in Tulum to begin a new life like Roman had dreamed of doing, having mailed his mother the other half of the money.
Caught Stealing had its world premiere on August 7, 2025 in Guaynabo, Puerto Rico, at Caribbean Cinemas with director Darren Aronofsky in attendance, as well as Austin Butler and Bad Bunny, who is credited by his birth name, Benito A. Martínez Ocasio. The premiere was held in Puerto Rico to promote the island, as well as coinciding with Bad Bunny's sold-out 30-date concert residency, being held about 8 miles away from the theater, which Aronofsky and Butler attended as Bad Bunny's VIP attendees.[23][24]
The film was released in the United States on August 29, 2025.[25]
Reception
Box office
As of September25,2025[update], the film has grossed $19 million in the United States and $12 million internationally, for a worldwide total of $31 million.[4][3]
The film made $1.2 million in Thursday night previews.[26] The film would make $9.6 million over the four-day Labor Day weekend.[27]
Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 84% of 220 critics' reviews are positive.The website's consensus reads: "A freewheeling throwback, Caught Stealing splendidly showcases Austin Butler's movie star charisma while marking a surprisingly lighthearted gearshift for director Darren Aronofsky."[28]Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 65 out of 100, based on 47 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.[29] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[30]
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