Catch Me If You Can Review
by Bob Bloom (bobbloom AT iquest DOT net)December 26th, 2002
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002) 3 1/2 stars out of 4. Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, James Brolin, Brian Howe and Jennifer Garner. Music by John Williams. Based upon the book by Frank W. Abagnale and Stan Redding. Screenplay by Jeff Nathanson. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Rated PG-13. Running time: Approx. 140 mins.
Steven Spielberg's latest venture, Catch Me If You Can, spotlights a central theme common to the majority of the director's works - family.
This engaging feature was inspired by the true story of a teen-age con man named Frank W. Abagnale Jr., who before he had reached the age of 21, had successfully masqueraded as a co-pilot for Pan Am airlines, a doctor and lawyer, while cashing close to $4 million in fraudulent checks.
But as written by Jeff Nathanson, adapting Abagnale's memoirs, directed by Spielberg and acted by Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank, the young man's actions - in his mind - are justifiable.
By proving himself a success - even a fraudulent one - Frank hopes to help his father regain his self-respect as well as repair the breach that separated his parents.
For like the protagonists in many Spielberg movies, Abagnale is motivated by his parents' divorce. His aim is to set things right, recreate the idealized world he inhabited as a boy when - before the banks and the IRS broke his father's spirit - he, his mother and dad lived an idyllic life in suburban New Rochelle, N.Y.
Spielberg's sentiments rest with his young subject as he records Frank's odyssey. The director does not such much admire Frank as he does understand what propels him. He has structured the story in such a way as not to rationalize or condone Frank's actions, but to explain them.
From its Saul Bass-style opening credits, Catch Me If You Can recaptures the look and mood of the early 1960s. The colors are bright, John Williams has composed one of his jauntiest scores and the very air seems to be filled with pastels.
It was a more innocent time, one in which people were taken at their word, when you could walk into a bank and, simply because you were dressed as a pilot or decked out in a three-piece suit, your check would be cashed without too many questions asked.
And young Frank too advantage of this trusting atmosphere. As played by DiCaprio, Frank is a charmer, flashing a wonderfully bright smile, knowing the right words to say. He walks around with an air of confidence and maturity that belies his young age.
Frank's activities soon attract the attention of the FBI, and one agent in particular, Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), a dogged investigator, who soon gets on Frank's trail. Early on - before he learns Frank's true identity - the agent has the young man cornered, but Frank bluffs his way out the situation.
Catch Me If You Can is more than a cat-and-mouse chase film. For underlying the project is a feeling of despair and loss. And no where is this more evident than in Christopher Walken's heartbreaking performance as Frank's father, Frank Sr., a dreamer and schemer who lacks the moxie, resourcefulness and wherewithal of his son.
He takes pride in Frank's various masquerades, justifying it as a result of what he considers a personal vendetta by the IRS. The most touching moment in the film occurs when the two Franks meet in a restaurant, and the father warns the son that the FBI knows who he is and is closing in on him.
The son tells the father he will give up his wayward life, all he has to do is tell him to stop. The older man cannot bring himself to do so, despite young Frank's obvious appeal.
Hanratty becomes Frank's surrogate father. Frank calls the agent every Christmas Eve, not so much to taunt him, but to have some contact with a real person, even if its his pursuer.
Hanks gives a most eccentric performance, sporting a grating Boston accent, as the determined hunter who though continually one step behind his prey, exudes a confidence about the outcome.
Walken deserves an Oscar nomination as the beaten-down, frustrated Frank Sr. living vicariously through his son's illicit exploits.
Catch Me If You Can, even at nearly two hours and 20 minutes, glides by as it chronicles Frank's various guises and scams.
It's not spoiling anything to reveal that Frank eventually is captured. But the movie's final irony is what Frank Abagnale Jr. has done with his life since his youthful exploits. Even the movies could not dream up such a scenario.
Bob Bloom is the film critic at the Journal and Courier in Lafayette, IN. He can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or at [email protected]. Other reviews by Bloom can be found at www.jconline.com by clicking on movies.
Bloom's reviews also appear on the Web at the Rottentomatoes Web site, www.rottentomatoes.com and at the Internet Movie Database:
http://www.imdb.com/M/reviews_by?Bob+Bloom
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