The general thoughts around Catch Me If You Can is it’s lesser Spielberg. Oh no, the man who created 5-10 of the greatest movies of all time doesn’t make one for every movie? Having already delivered one of them earlier in the year, Spielberg is content to let Leonardo DiCaprio do his thing as the great director spins a delightful tale about one of the world’s youngest con men: Frank Abagnale Jr.
Frank starts out with little cons: pretending to be a substitute teacher for example. This horrifies his mom (Nathalie Baye), but amuses his dad, Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken). When it becomes clear to Frank Jr. that his family is going to fall apart, he runs. Desperate and alone, Frank starts forging checks for a little money to get by: I mean, he’s only a teenager. As time goes on though, he learns the intricacies of how to convince banks to cash checks for greater sums of money, but he also learns how to convince sweet gullible people that he’s a pilot, or doctor, or lawyer for example, working his way up American society…at 19 years old. That level of forgery and theft catches the eye of the FBI, specifically Carl Hanrattty (Tom Hanks), the chief inspector of check fraud at the time.
Playing a con man must be a dream job for an actor, because you get to play like 7-10 characters all in the same movie. In Catch Me If You Can, Frank Abagnale has to be the most charming, good looking man in the room. I know Leo DiCaprio can’t really relate to that, so he did he best in the role. I’m kidding of course. This is one of those roles DiCaprio was born to play, imbuing Frank with boyish enthusiasm and obvious good looks. DiCaprio shows off his acting talents by throwing himself into what a boy thinks a doctor/lawyer/pilot looks like from watching TV or other people in the profession he admires. Because other people probably learn the same way, they buy his act because of how he looks and how convincing he sounds. Spielberg films this in a droll way mostly, like making a medical intern frazzled that he didn’t “concur” with the other doctor’s analysis. By filming this way, Spielberg helps DiCaprio come off more earnest than most con men, almost innocent even, like when he notices and listens to all the fears and insecurities of sweet nurse Brenda (Amy Adams) and tries to help her.
Because underneath all of Frank’s cons is a desire to gain the acceptance of his father and become loved by someone, and when that’s not possible, lie to yourself about it. And that’s where Carl Hanratty comes in. Frank seems almost touched that someone would actually chase after him, since Spielberg makes it look like his actual parents didn’t try very hard after their marriage dissolved. Every Christmas, Frank finds a way to get in touch with Carl to chat. This happens so often that Carl, the most cold, calculating seeming FBI agent, understands who Frank is and what makes him tick. For all the glitz and glam Frank Sr. imparted on Frank Jr., the younger Frank starts to see Carl more as a parental figure as time goes on. The last 30 minutes of the movie or so is a wonderful coda to the story, showing how good a relationship Carl and Frank have developed to the point that Frank starts to see his work “prison” sentence more like something he should be doing with his life instead of living the lie.
You know what Steven Spielberg? You’ve convinced me to stop living the lie! This isn’t life altering cinema, sorry dude. However, it is hella fun, and I had a great time watching Leo and Tom Hanks just be awesome while you window dressed the sh*t out the movie. Wait, if I’m being honest, SS is never gonna read this! So scratch my gimmick, and replace Steven Spielberg with [INSERT AVID MOVIE WATCHER/BLOGGER NAME HERE].