Caught Stealing

Caught Stealing

Year: 2025

Runtime: 1 h 47 m

Language: english

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Echo Score: 87

Budget: $40M

ComedyCrimeThriller

Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) was a high‑school baseball phenom whose playing days are over, yet his life is otherwise on track. He shares a steady relationship with his girlfriend (Zoë Kravitz), works behind the bar of a New York dive, and follows his favorite team’s surprising pennant chase. When his punk‑rock neighbor Russ (Matt Smith) asks him to look after his cat, Hank’s routine begins to shift.

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Timeline & Setting – Caught Stealing (2025)

Explore the full timeline and setting of Caught Stealing (2025). Follow every major event in chronological order and see how the environment shapes the story, characters, and dramatic tension.

Time period

1998

The narrative is anchored in 1998, capturing the late-1990s urban crime milieu. It references the era's nightlife, city life, and cultural touchstones like the San Francisco Giants. Flashbacks touch on Hank’s career-ending injury and the car crash that haunts him, grounding the story in a specific historical moment.

Location

Lower East Side, Patterson (California), London, San Francisco, Flushing Meadows, Shea Stadium,

The action unfolds primarily in the Lower East Side nightlife, with key moments in Patterson, California, and London, and features appearances around Flushing Meadows and Shea Stadium. The film ties gritty NYC streets to international crime webs, reflecting a city-to-city chase vibe. The recurring locales underscore a world where local bars and apartments become gateways to a larger underworld.

🗽 NYC setting 🌍 Multi-location 🗺️ Cross-Atlantic

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 12:10

Main Characters – Caught Stealing (2025)

Meet the key characters of Caught Stealing (2025), with detailed profiles, motivations, and roles in the plot. Understand their emotional journeys and what they reveal about the film’s deeper themes.

Hank Thompson (Austin Butler)

A former high school baseball star who tends bar on the Lower East Side, haunted by a career-ending knee injury and the car crash that killed his friend Dale. Loyal and resourceful, he fights to protect Yvonne and Bud while getting drawn deeper into a dangerous conspiracy.

🎭 Drama 🧭 Loyalty 🔪 Crime

Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz)

Hank’s girlfriend and a paramedic who embodies courage and compassion under pressure. Her safety becomes a focal point as the plot ties her fate to Hank’s attempts to navigate the criminal web.

🎭 Drama 💉 Medical ❤️ Romance

Roman (Regina King)

A narcotics detective whose investigation intertwines with the Drucker brothers’ affairs. Her career is threatened by corruption and she contemplates retirement, hinting at a morally compromised system.

🎭 Drama 🕵️‍♀️ Detective ⚖️ Corruption

Russ (Matt Smith)

Hank’s neighbor and a drug dealer tied to the Drucker network. His London return and involvement with Russ’s schemes pull Hank deeper into danger as loyalties shift.

🎭 Drama 💊 Crime 🧭 Loyalty

Aleksei (Yuri Kolokolnikov)

A ruthless enforcer for the Druckers, whose presence amplifies the threat around Hank and pushes the plot toward violent confrontations.

🎭 Drama 🔪 Crime 🧭 Loyalty

Pavel (Nikita Kukushkin)

Aleksei’s associate who carries out violent acts and plays a pivotal role in the escalating tension surrounding the key and the money.

🎭 Drama 🔪 Crime

Lipa Drucker (Liev Schreiber)

One of the Drucker brothers, a calculating criminal whose ambitions drive much of the plot’s power struggles and money schemes.

🎭 Drama 🔪 Crime

Shmully Drucker (Vincent D'Onofrio)

The other Drucker brother who co-leads the criminal operation and participates in the brutal dynamics surrounding the key and the money.

🎭 Drama 🔪 Crime

Paul (Griffin Dunne)

Owner of Paul’s Bar, a central location in Hank’s world where many confrontations unfold and danger materializes.

🎭 Drama 🏢 Bar setting

Jason (Will Brill)

A homeless figure who helps Hank recover the key, his presence becomes a crucial link in unraveling the conspiracy.

🎭 Drama 🧭 Key to plot

Bud the Cat (Bud)

Hank’s cat, a quiet companion whose litter box becomes a surprising repository for the key, symbolizing how ordinary life persists amid danger.

🐈 Animal companion 🗝️ Plot device

Dale (D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai)

Hank’s deceased friend whose memory and the crash that ended Hank’s baseball career haunt the present events.

🎭 Drama 💔 Loss

Bar Reveller (Deepti Menon)

A figure tied to the bar scene who intersects Hank’s path within the crime-riddled nightlife.

🎭 Drama 🧭 Bar life

Actor (Bianca Ghezzi)

A cameo presence representing the world that brushes against Hank’s life in the city’s combustible atmosphere.

🎭 Drama

Hero Batter (McKinzie J. Scott)

A minor figure whose role highlights the film’s undercurrent of street-level life and consequence.

🎭 Drama

The Heavy (Oleg Prudius)

A large enforcer whose presence signals the physical threat at key confrontations within the underworld.

🎭 Drama 🔪 Crime

Bubbe (Carol Kane)

A family elder figure who anchors the human dimension of Hank’s world and threat to his family’s safety.

🎭 Drama 👵 Family

Colorado (Bad Bunny)

A criminal associate whose actions tie the barroom violence to the broader network and its ruthless reach.

🎭 Drama 🔪 Crime

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 12:10

Major Themes – Caught Stealing (2025)

Explore the central themes of Caught Stealing (2025), from psychological, social, and emotional dimensions to philosophical messages. Understand what the film is really saying beneath the surface.

⚖️ Loyalty

Loyalty threads Hank, Russ, and the Drucker brothers through a tightening web of crime and consequence. Hank’s commitment to Yvonne and Bud drives risky decisions as the key and money become central to survival. Betrayals emerge as pressures mount, revealing how loyalty can both protect and entrain characters in greater danger. The film uses loyalty to test moral lines and obligations amid criminal chaos.

🗡️ Violence

Violence punctuates the narrative with brutal home invasions, bar room confrontations, and lethal showdowns. The murders of Yvonne and several other figures propel the plot and force characters to confront the stakes of their choices. The violence is framed as systemic, tying individual acts to a larger criminal enterprise. The tension escalates toward a climactic chase and a deadly crash.

💔 Consequences

Every action leaves a mark, from Hank’s knee injury and his friend Dale’s death to the murder of Yvonne and the gang’s pursuit of money. The consequences ripple through Hank’s relationship with his mother, the fate of the Druckers, and Roman’s precarious position within corruption. The resolution brings a hard-won sense of cost and a choice to disappear into a new life with part of the wealth.

Last Updated: October 01, 2025 at 12:10

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The narrative pattern begins with a stable, normal life that is abruptly disrupted by a single event, pulling the protagonist into a chaotic sequence of chases, betrayals, and violence. The journey is defined by escalating stakes, loss of safety, and a desperate struggle to reclaim some form of control or simply survive.

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Gritty 90s crime stories with a heavy cost like Caught Stealing

Stories of survival in a decaying city, where freedom comes with trauma.Fans of the specific 1990s New York vibe and the heavy, bittersweet ending of Caught Stealing will find similar movies here. These films combine a fast-paced crime plot with a melancholic tone, exploring the lasting psychological trauma of violence in a gritty urban setting.

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Narrative Summary

These narratives are deeply tied to their time and place, using a decaying urban environment to amplify feelings of paranoia and desperation. The plot delivers a physically and emotionally punishing journey, culminating in an ending where survival is achieved, but it feels like a Pyrrhic victory, leaving the protagonist alone with their grief.

Why These Movies?

These films are grouped by their shared aesthetic of a gritty period setting, a high level of violence, and an emotionally heavy, bittersweet conclusion. The connection is a specific mood of melancholic survival amidst urban chaos.

Unlock the Full Story of Caught Stealing

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Caught Stealing Summary

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Caught Stealing Timeline

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Caught Stealing Timeline

Caught Stealing Ending Explained

What really happened at the end of Caught Stealing? This detailed ending explained page breaks down final scenes, hidden clues, and alternate interpretations with expert analysis and viewer theories.

Caught Stealing Ending Explained

Caught Stealing Spoiler-Free Summary

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Caught Stealing Spoiler-Free Summary

More About Caught Stealing

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