Catch Me If
You Can (2002)
biography
directed
by : Steven Spielberg
featuring
: Leonardo DiCaprio - Tom Hanks - Christopher Walken - Martin Sheen - Nathalie
Baye
running
time : 2 hours 20 minutes
A gifted forger and confidence
man attempts to stay one step ahead of the lawman determined to bring him
to justice in this comedy-drama from Steven Spielberg, based on a true
story. Frank W.Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a 16-year-old high school
student who finds himself emotionally cut adrift when his mother, Paula
(Nathalie Baye), leaves his father, Frank Abagnale Sr. (Christopher Walken),
after Frank Sr. falls into arrears with the Internal Revenue Service. One
day at school, Frank Jr. attempts to pass himself off as a substitute teacher,
and easily makes the subterfuge work. His small-scale success gives Frank
some ideas, and he soon discovers bigger and more profitable ways of hoaxing
others, passing himself off as an airline pilot, a doctor, and an attorney.
Along the way, Frank learns how to become a master forger, and uses his
talent and charm to pass over 2.5 million dollars in phony checks. Frank's
increasingly audacious work soon attracts the attention of Carl Hanratty
(Tom Hanks), an FBI agent who is determined to put Frank behind bars. Frank
seems to enjoy being pursued by Carl, and even goes so far as to call Carl
on the phone to chat every once in a while. While posing as a doctor, Frank
falls in love with Brenda Strong (Amy Adams), a sweet girl working as a
candy striper. When Frank asks Brenda to marry him, he decides to assume
a new identity to impress her father, Roger (Martin Sheen) — who happens
to be the District Attorney of New Orleans, LA.
Catch Me If You Can was
based on the autobiography of the real Frank W. Abagnale Jr., who has a
cameo in the film and today works on the side of the law as a top consultant
on preventing forgery and designing secure checking systems.
Leaving behind the darker implications
found in A.I.: Artificial Intelligence and Minority Report, Spielberg brings
audiences a highly enjoyable cat-and-mouse escapade in Catch Me If You
Can. Despite purposely fudging some fairly major aspects of Frank Jr.'s
personal history for dramatic effect — the character of Carl Hanratty (Hanks),
for example, is completely fictitious — the film is nonetheless an engaging
and relatively accurate account of Frank Jr.'s life. Somewhat overshadowed
by Daniel Day Lewis and Liam Neeson in Gangs Of New York, DiCaprio's talents
have not been showcased this well since his Academy Award nominated performance
in What's Eating Gilbert Grape, DiCaprio's boyish features and bright charisma
make for a sympathetic portrayal of the young con artist, and Frank's actions
seem less motivated by greed than they are by the desire to restore his
family to what it once was, as well as, ironically, a way to discover his
true identity. Hanks puts in an equally strong performance as droll FBI
agent Hanratty, whose determination to apprehend Frank is more of an exercise
in his own ideals and even paternal concern than an ego-motivated manhunt.
The film's only major faults are the palpable slow down in its later half,
and a conclusion that does not seem to end where it should. Regardless,
Catch Me If You Can is a beautifully shot, thoroughly enjoyable movie with
a whole lot of heart.