Catch Me If You Can

Catch Me If You Can; crime drama, USA, 2002; D: Steven Spielberg, S: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Amy Adams, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, James Brolin, Nancy Lenehan, Thomas Kopache, Candice Azzara, Jennifer Garner 

Frank Abagnale (16) always adored his father who always managed to cope in every situation despite all the troubles in life. But when he hears that his parents are about to get divorced, he gets shocked and flees to New York. There he lives by counterfeiting checks, but he quickly decides to pretend to be a pilot. To achieve that, he introduces himself as a reporter and interviews one pilot, gaining enough information. As a pilot, he cashes in a whole bunch of checks and thus gets persecuted by FBI agent Carl. Frank also "becomes" a doctor, a lawyer and even a husband, and then runs away to Europe. There he gets caught by Carl and placed in jail for 12 years, but gets bailed out in order to work for the FBI.

"Catch Me If You Can" is truly a pleasant surprise of a film. Based on a real story, that elegant humorous crime-drama portrays the fascinating character of Frank Abagnale, a chameleon con-artist who would disguise himself as anyone, from a lawyer to a pilot, proving the thesis that it's only important to believe in yourself in order to achieve something - or fool the mob. This is displayed excellently in the sequence where the young Frank, nothing older than his fellow students, enters a school classroom and starts pretending to be the new teacher. The students are suspicious, but bend towards his strong self-confidence, and when the real teacher enters, he just sends her out! Better written than directed, the movie is a great little flick about deceiving and an essay about the relativity of society and appearance. Excellent Leonardo DiCaprio was delightfully cast as the leading anti-hero, who is both innocent and conniving, while Christopher Walken delivered a dignified role as his father.

Grade:+++