Charlie Huston

Austin Butler takes the lead and runs with it in Caught Stealing, a slice-of-the-nineties crime drama about a New York City bartender on a wrong-man odyssey with the Russian mob and more on his tail. Though not a home run, Caught Stealing has twists that surprise Hank as much as the audience. It’s diverting enough as a crime story but a more satisfying study of a character caught in the clutch, with a resolution that covers all the bases.

Caught Stealing tries to please all audiences. There’s criminal activity, violence, a little romance, motherly and grandmotherly love, Russian henchmen, Orthodox Jewish gangsters performing mitzvahs while concealing their tzitzit and silencers, a Puerto Rican kingpin, corrupt police and a sweet cat who’s poop is the root of all evil.