The new crime comedy Caught Stealing unfolds in the year 1998, traveling across a distinctly grungy New York City-all dingy subway platforms and drab Chinatown apartments. The time frame differs just slightly from that of the novel it's based on, which is set in 2000. I can think of only one reason the director, Darren Aronofsky, might have decided to make this tweak: The film shares its time and place with his debut feature, Pi, which premiered that same year.
That's the New York City Carroll believed in when she walked into that dressing room. Instead of a funny story, she got shoved up against the dressing room wall and sexually assaulted by Donald Trump, becoming a sort of canary in the coal mine for the rest of America.