A Collage of Two Movies Coming Out in Theaters in Late Summer 2025 (CREDIT: Niko Tavernise/Columbia Pictures; Searchlight Pictures/Screenshot)

Caught Stealing

Starring: Austin Butler, Regina King, Zoë Kravitz, Matt Smith, Liev Schreiber, Vincent D’Onofrio, Griffin Dunne, Benito A Martínez Ocasio, Yuri Kolokolnikov, Nikita Kukushkin, Carol Kane, D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai

Director: Darren Aronofsky

Running Time: 107 Minutes

Rating: R for Reckless Violence, Some Drunken Debauchery, and a Little Bit of Sex

Release Date: August 29, 2025 (Theaters)

The Roses

Starring: Benedict Cumberbatch, Olivia Colman, Andy Samberg, Kate McKinnon, Sunita Mani, Ncuti Gatwa, Jamie Demetriou, Zoë Chao, Hala Finley, Wells Rapaport, Delaney Quinn, Ollie Robinson, Belinda Bromilow, Allison Janney

Director: Jay Roach

Running Time: 105 Minutes

Rating: R for Rather Colorful Language

Release Date: August 29, 2025 (Theaters)

Labor Day is typically known as the unofficial end of summer in the Northern Hemisphere, even though technically autumn doesn’t really arrive until the final third of September. Either way, it’s a time for altering routines and reflecting upon what you’ve been up to the past few months. In that spirit of looking back, we’ve got a couple of new releases for Labor Day Weekend 2025 that are both throwbacks in their own particular ways.

First on the docket is the crime caper Caught Stealing, directed by Darren Aronofsky, which just so happens to take place in the year that his directorial debut was released. That would be 1998, when Bay Area transplant Hank Thompson (Austin Butler) is slumming it in Manhattan’s Lower East Side while tending bar, chilling with his best girl Yvonne (Zoë Kravitz), and nursing his dashed dreams of baseball stardom by pulling hard for his hometown Giants. But then because of some shenanigans from his mohawked miscreant neighbor (Matt Smith), he finds himself targeted by a couple of Russian gangsters (Yuri Kolokolnikov and Nikita Kukushkin), a Puerto Rican nightclub owner (Benito A Martínez Ocasio, aka Bad Bunny), a pair of Hasidic mobsters (Liev Schreiber and Vincent D’Onofrio), and an NYPD detective (Regina King), who all believe that Hank is the key to locating a secret stockpile of cash.

The Roses, meanwhile, appears to take place in the present day, offering an updated spin on one of the most iconic comedies of the ’80s. It’s the second adaptation of the Warren Adler novel The War of the Roses, the first of which came out in 1989 and starred Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner. I’ve never seen it, but I know it by reputation as dark, bitter, and pretty hilarious. The Roses finds Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman taking over as architect Theo and restaurateur Ivy, the titular couple on the brink of divorce. Tony McNamara’s script seems intent on resurrecting the unapologetic edge of a bygone era, though it’s fighting against an instinct to be as crowd-pleasing as possible.

So now as we come to the critical assessment, I’m here to guide you as we attempt to answer the question, “Is it worth looking back with Caught Stealing and The Roses?” I won’t delay my conclusion, as I declare “yes” to the former and “not so much” to the latter. Caught Stealing is an eternal story of “How did I end up in this situation?” Most of us won’t ever find ourselves ensnared in as deadly a predicament as Hank does, but the core of his dilemma is relatable enough for pretty much every viewer to get some vicarious thrills out of. The potential success of The Roses, however, depends much more on your own unique sensibilities. I found most of the barbs to be needlessly cruel, not just because I’m not a huge fan of invective-based comedy, but also because I detected plenty of genuine affection underneath all the insecurity. Although I suspect that epiphany may have actually been the point of the story? If so, it would’ve been nicer if that realization had been more cathartic (though the explosive conclusion may actually provide sufficient release for some audiences).

Ultimately, if you’re heading to the cinema to look back, I recommend trying to find something that will also keep you hooked on the present while you’re watching and bumping toward the future after you leave. Caught Stealing pulled off that trick for me, whereas The Roses left me much more jumbled.

Grades:
Caught Stealing: 3.5 out of 5 Mitzvahs
The Roses: 2.5 out of 5 Crabs