Spielberg's Honky Tonk

Rating: 7/10 (26 May 2003)

Catch Me If You Can is the latest Steven Spielberg film starring Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio. I quite enjoyed it. It was very entertaining, and I always am more satisfied with movies when they are based, at least in part, on something that really happened. In reviewing Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, Roger Ebert wrote:
Serious pianists sometimes pound out a little honky-tonk, just for fun. That's like what Steven Soderbergh is doing in "Ocean's Eleven."
I kind of feel like that's a bit of what Spielberg is doing here. I've found this the least thematically significant film he's directed since Jurassic Park, but that said it is very entertaining and the acting is excellent. Even DiCaprio, whom I don't normally like, was great. Even more so, I thought Christopher Walken's performance as DiCaprio's father was superb, and very much worthy of a supporting actor Oscar nomination he garnered for the role.
Bottom line: 7/10.