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An enormously agreeably diverting (if more or less shallow) affair from blockbuster conductor Steven Spielberg. Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Frank Abagnale, Jr., a dazzling young con man who expended four years impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer–all before he turned 21. All the while he’s pursued by a committed FBI agent named Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), whose dogged determination stays one step behind Abagnale’s spontaneous wits. Both DiCaprio and Hanks turn in gratifying performances and the movie has a bouncy rhythm that keeps it zipping along. However, it never gets under the surface of Frank’s drive to lose himself in other identities, other than a simplistic desire to please his father (Christopher Walken, splendid as always), nor does it explore the complex mechanics of fraud with any depth. By the movie’s end, it feels like one of Frank’s pilot uniforms–appearance without substance. –Bret Fetzer
From The New Yorker
Leonardo DiCaprio is loose and easy-a movie star again after his grim encounter with “Gangs of New York”-in Steven Spielberg’s charming comedy when it comes to a teen-age con man. When his businessman/scam-artist father (Christopher Walken) loses his grip, Frank W. Abagnale (DiCaprio), eager to restore the old guy’s glory, slips into deception as a way of life, impersonating, serially, an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, kiting checks along the way and leading the F.B.I., in the person of Agent Hanratty (Tom Hanks), on a merry chase. Yet Hanratty, while carrying out or participate in Frank with Javert-like relentlessness, becomes fond of the young scoundrel. The movie is in truth with regards to an amoral boy lucky sufficient to have two fathers, each with superb qualities. This real-life story (based on Abagnale’s autobiography) is set in the sixties, and Spielberg has given it a sleek and carefree look. An expert and touching entertainment. -David Denby
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker
An FBI agent (Hanks) tracks down and catches a young con artisan (DiCaprio) who with great success impersonated an airline pilot, doctor, assistant attorney popular and history professor, cashing more than $2.5 million in fraudulent checks in 26 countries.
Product Details
- Amazon Sales Rank: #4436 in DVD
- Brand: Paramount
- Published on: 2003-05-01
- Released on: 2003-05-06
- Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
- Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
- Number of discs: 2
- Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DTS Surround Sound, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
- Original language: English
- Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
- Dubbed in: French
- Number of discs: 1
- Dimensions: .30 pounds
- Running time: 141 minutes
Features
- TESTED OK
- 2003 DATE
Reviews
75 of 83 people found the following review helpful.
Immensely Entertaining. Great Performances. -And True Too!
By mirasreviews
“Catch Me If You Can” is the story of real-life con artist Frank Abagnale, Jr. who, in the late 1960′s and early 1970′s, when he was between the ages of 16 and 21, wrote $2.5 million dollars in bad checks and became one of the most notorious con men in American history. The film follows Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio) from his early high school pranks to his check-printing operation and eventual capture in France five years later. FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) doggedly pursues Frank as he successfully impersonates an air line pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, living the life of a playboy and cashing ingeniously forged checks all along the way.
“Catch Me If You Can” was directed by Stephen Spielberg and, along with Minority Report, signifies a revival of Spielberg’s directing talent after fifteen years of mediocre-at-best filmmaking. This film is fairly light fare, but it is immensely entertaining, funny, touching, and impeccably cast. Frank Abagnale, Jr. is a perfect fit for Leonardo DiCaprio, and is probably his best role since “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape”. Tom Hanks seems to have abandoned his typically saccharine roles this year -much to his credit- and puts in a wonderful performance as sympathetic geeky G-man Carl Hanratty (along with a terrific showing in “Road to Perdition”). Christopher Walken was the only actor to receive an Oscar nomination for “Catch Me If You Can”. His performance as Frank Abagnale, Sr., our protagonist’s down-and-out father, deserved the honor. Frank Jr.’s awkward combination of admiration and pity for his father seems to have been a key motivator in his illustrious life of crime, and Christopher Walken really helps us understand that.
The real Frank Abagnale, Jr. is a successful security consultant these days, protecting businesses from white collar crime. He cooperated with and bascially likes the film, but is quick to point out that “Catch Me If You Can” is based on his biography of the same name that was written about 25 years ago. Mr. Abagnale says that some aspects of his experiences were exaggerated in that book and some have been altered for the movie as well. Whatever the inaccuracies, Frank Abagnale, Jr.’s immense intelligence, ambition, and guts are the most striking elements of the film. It’s the rarity of finding all of these qualities in such abundance in one person that make Frank’s character so fascinating, and make him one of cinema’s most lovable antiheroes.
I highly recommend “Catch Me If You Can” for its great performances and its extremely entertaining story of an ingenious con man and his noble pursuer…made all the more interesting because the story is largely true.
26 of 27 people found the following review helpful.
Spielberg sends us a message….
By L. Quido
and the message is, “Sometimes, I’m gonna do a film where I just try to entertain you”. And entertain it did!
Reviewers of the movie are at odds, either giving it high praise, when they recognize that it is just there to entertain the filmgoer, or calling it dreadful, when they expect every Spielberg movie to be a momentous event of special effects and storytelling. “Catch Me If You Can” is based on the life of a con man, who pulled his crimes as a teenager, and then reformed for the rest of a long life. The story engrosses the watcher, and Spielberg gives the film a light touch, a terrific cast, and fits it all into the eerily real culture of the 60′s everyday life with costumes (wardrobe is outstanding), period sets, and a general feeling of wonder (Remember “The Wonder Years”?) that was the true 60′s feel, devoid of momentous political events and the inevitable strife caused by war.
DiCaprio is featured as an odd duck, an obsessive compulsive trapped in escalating acts designed to make his father feel that his life is successful. He shows some great naivete, especially in the scene criticized by many with Jennifer Garner, and displays the genial and engaging manner that the real Frank must have had to get away with what he did.
Hanks is another believable work obsessive compulsive who chases him down and forms the nucleus of the nonviolent criminal teams that solve financial crimes in this country every day. Bringing Frank to the FBI feels a little unbelievable, but it DID happen, and it was based on Hanratty’s understanding and faith in not only the genius, but also the need of Abagnale to outsmart the world. I’m sure it was a huge
financial success for law enforcement in the real world.
Many seem surprised at the fine flair that Christopher Walken displays as Frank’s father, but Walken’s career is full of moments like these, where he has flashes of a true craftsman, then does an over the top performance in his next role…kind of a roller coaster ride with this fine performer, you never know what to expect.
The audience clapped in the film I saw, enjoyed the music, had a great time…now that’s entertainment! Catch Me If You Can blends light comedy with a background edge of why things turn out the way they do when families dissolve. It may be the most entertaining movie (short of My Big Fat Greek Wedding) of 2002; and although it doesn’t deserve to win any awards….
sometimes Spielberg should just entertain us! He’s earned it.
19 of 20 people found the following review helpful.A Throwback to an Earlier Time
By Jason N. Mical
Steven Spielburg’s second 2002 film is a dinosaur. It’s an anachronism. It belongs to the time period in which it’s set, a more innocent America where Charles Manson had not brought violence to the wealthy and Vietnam was still a winnable (and profitable) war. It’s Catch Me If You Can, the story of con man Frank Abagnale, Jr., who may very well be the world’s foremost expert on forgery and fraud. If that doesn’t sound like a complimentary introduction, fear not; Catch Me a film’s film and a throwback to the cinema of yore, when audio and video combined to make an experience rather than an assault on the senses.
Imagine a mixture of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and To Catch a Thief. Catch Me has the slow pacing and careful cinematography of Hitchcock at his finest, and Spielburg has forsaken his recent effects-laden shots for straightforward storytelling. Every individual shot is deliberately framed, with a care for detail not usually seen outside of a Lynch film. There are no explosions to distract the eye from character interaction, and the overall effect is that of an effortless and immersive film.
Leonardo DiCaprio, in one of his best (and best-developed) roles since Gilbert Grape, plays Frank Abagnale, a teenager growing up outside of New York. His father (played by Christopher Walken) is being investigated by the IRS, and Frank Jr.’s idyllic American life full of apple pie, WWII vets marrying their sweethearts, and large-finned cars is about to come crashing down. When he finds that what he’s left with isn’t to his liking, Frank embarks on a career of impersonation and fraud. He passes himself off as an airline pilot, a Harvard-educated doctor, an assistant prosecutor, and a recruiter for an airline stewardess program – all before his 19th birthday. When he starts passing bad checks – to the tune of four million dollars – he attracts the attention of straightlaced FBI Agent Tom Hanks, who manages to avoid his Hanks persona in favor of actual acting.
Catch Me is a character story, told through a series of events in Abagnale’s life. It’s funny at times, but the portrait that develops is of a sad, lonely, and almost pathetic child who runs and hides because he doesn’t know what else to do. Hanks is like an automaton, relentless in his pursuit, and his grip on Abagnale only grows tighter with each narrow escape. It’s not a deep meditation on a philosophical subject, or an artistic look at some overused postmodern cliché. Catch Me aims to entertain, nothing more, and succeeds admirably.
Without effects, a blazing soundtrack, and fast-paced action to drive the story, Spielburg ekes the most from Hanks and DiCaprio without resorting to hammy overacting. This, combined with the easygoing plot and fantastic camerawork, lend Catch Me an unusual amount of verisimilitude for a modern film: it’s something to lose yourself in, where you no longer think “I’m watching a movie.” That is an accomplishment worthy of note.
Final Grade: A-
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