Since his career as a feature film director started in 1998, Darren Aronofsky has been known for making intense dramas with stories that are often intentionally hard to understand, like The Whale and mother!. To put it plainly, he’s never been a filmmaker who’s been beholden to genres, so the idea of him making a straightforward crime film like the new Caught Stealing is baffling for those who have followed his career.

The story centers on Hank Thompson (Austin Butler), who once had big dreams of being a professional baseball player, but now tends bar at a seedy New York City joint. Hank, along with his girlfriend Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), is unwittingly dragged into a criminal enterprise when his next door neighbor, Russ (Matt Smith), asks Hank to watch his cat when he goes out of town.

Multiple goons soon start showing up at Russ’ door, looking for money that Russ has taken from them. Despite not knowing anything about that, Hank gets beaten up, threatened, and pursued by groups led by Colorado (Bad Bunny) and Hasidic Jews Lipa (Liev Schreiber) and Shmully (Vincent D’Onofrio), as well as Detective Roman (Regina King).

Written by Charlie Huston (adapting his own 2004 book of the same name), the film is inarguably the most entertaining one of Aronofsky’s career. Although there are multiple soul-crushing events for Hank in the film, Aronofsky seems to rein in his more depressing tendencies in favor of a fast-paced crime thriller. There are plenty of moments where he could have leaned into the darker parts of the story, but instead he lets the comedy of Huston’s script shine through, keeping things relatively light.

The characters are what make the movie work the most. Hank’s backstory lends extra meaning to his current dilemma, and also underscores his relationships with Yvonne and his unseen mother, whom he calls every day. Every one of the criminals - from Russ to two Russian thugs to the Orthodox Jews - stands out in a way that serves the story and enhances the entertainment factor. Even small roles like Hank’s boss Paul (Griffin Dunne) make an impact thanks to the way the film is structured.

It’s also nice to see Butler let loose after a string of award-bait roles in films like Elvis and The Bikeriders. Hank fights through a significant amount of trauma, allowing Butler to show off his dramatic acting skills again, but he also gets to indulge in a bit of action acting, which he handles with aplomb. Butler has been impressive before, but he makes Hank into a magnetic character throughout here.

The other actors are a little bit of a mixed bag. Kravitz is good, but she doesn’t get enough screentime for her character to feel fully realized. Schreiber, D’Onofrio, and Bad Bunny are a hoot in their respective roles, each bringing a menace that’s tinged with likability. King tries to employ a New York accent, something that distracts from what her character is saying.

Nothing in Aronofsky’s previous filmography suggested he would be interested in a movie like Caught Stealing, much less be so successful actually making it. But movie fans are the winners for his mid-career change of heart, getting a highly enjoyable crime film that delivers on both the story and acting front.

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Caught Stealing opens in theaters on August 29.