Watching “Caught Stealing,” you can’t help but wonder what attracted filmmaker Darren Aronofsky to the project.

Sure, you figure he’d read and enjoyed the novel of the same name by Charlie Huston on which it’s based, and, yes, that happened nearly two decades ago, according to the production notes for the movie version sliding into theaters this week.

But this relatively lightweight tale of a former high school baseball phenom-turned-bartender who becomes entangled in the criminal underworld of New York City is so different from his more ambitious works. That this comes from the man who directed 2000’s “Requiem for a Dream,” 2006’s “The Fountain,” 2010’s “Black Swan” and 2017’s underappreciated “Mother!” is tough to believe. If you squint, maybe the more-grounded-in-reality “Caught Steal

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