Review: Catch Me If You Can (2002)

2002: The year of Leonardo DiCaprio's comeback. After 1997, and the immense success of the film Titanic (1997), DiCaprio decided to cool his acting career for a while. Between the years 1998 and 2001, Leo only had three new film releases, all of which did not perform well at the box office. Then came the year 2002. The month was December, and DiCaprio had two films opening within 5 days of each other, with a massive director at the helm of each movie (Spielberg directed Catch Me If You Can; Scorsese directed DiCaprio's other 2002 release, Gangs of New York). Catch Me If You Can was the most successful of these two films, and went on to become the 11th highest grossing film of the year; the 3rd highest grossing film of Leo's career, behind Titanic (1997) and Inception (2010).

Catch Me If You Can is based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr, who forged cheques, fraudulently posed as an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, and stole millions of dollars from the US Government, all before he turned 21 years old. 

"Ah, people only know what you tell them, Carl."

Although Catch Me If You Can is based on truth, the film veers of course from real events throughout much of the feature. In the movie, Frank is shown to be an only child, whereas in real life, he we was one of four kids. The amount of money that Frank allegedly stole from the government is also different in the film as opposed to what he actually stole. His real capture was also completely different than how it was dipicted in the movie. This is just the tip of the fictitious iceberg; however, the film is still based on truth, and doesn't make any major changes to Frank's actual story.

This has got to be one of the quickest 2 & 1/2 hour films I have ever seen. Love that! But, no, really, this film genuinely felt no longer than 90 minutes long. It was very entertaining, and rather funny. Not once was I bored.

"Stop chasing me!"

Catch Me If You Can happens to star two of the world's most famous and talented actors: Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. They also happen to be two of my favourite actors. DiCaprio plays the lead role of Frank Abagnale Jr., a man causing the US Government an awful lot of trouble.  Leo was the perfect choice for the character, and made Frank out to be a completely likable, if misguided, young man. Hanks was brilliant as Carl Hanratty, the FIB agent in hot pursuit of Abagnale. There is certainly a comedic edge to this character, but Hanks does not overstate it, and is just right for the role. The film costars Christopher Walken, who plays Frank's father, Frank Senior. Walken is also very good in the movie, but he has far less sceen time than either DiCaprio or Hanks.

I'm very pleased that I finally "caught" Catch Me If You Can, and I hope to "catch" it again sometime. 8/10

Trivia: According to costume designer Mary Zophres, Leonardo DiCaprio has 100 costume changes throughout Catch Me If You Can.

**BONUS** The first scene in Catch Me If You Can features a reenactment of the time the real Frank Abagnale Jr. appeared on the US game show "To Tell The Truth". Here's a link to Abagnale's appearance on the show in 1977:

To Tell The Truth