Realistic painting of a fantastic life

Rating: 9/10 (31 December 2002)

Is this movie a feel-good comedy with a message or a character-driven drama in lighthearted sheep's clothing? Well, it's both. The wonderful thing about this movie is that it appreciates and celebrates the fact that real life does not fall into genre categories, but spreads into all of them, binding them together with the common thread of the person who's living it - in cinematic terms, the main character. And boy, does Leonardo DiCaprio deliver in that department. Obviously intelligent and creative, his Frank Abagnale, Jr. is carefree, mischievous, and always aware of the fact that he will, eventually, be caught - he's just trying to enjoy the ride as much as possible before it ends. DiCaprio shows us the sparkling glee when Abagnale pulls off a con, the innocent ego that makes him absolutely believe that he won't be caught. then the grief that propels him onward, and a desperate loneliness that ultimately drives him to reach out to the FBI agent on his trail (played by Tom Hanks, who's been doing this for long enough that his character is automatically solid and enjoyable, even though he's technically the `bad guy'). Their tenuous and unusual relationship is one of the most interesting aspects of this fascinating movie - made all the more fascinating by the fact that it's all based on a true story. Real life is stranger than fiction, they say, and Frank Abagnale's life is one so impossible you just might believe it. He got away with an absurd amount of fraud and deception in a picturesque, naÃ¯ve era, and Catch Me If You Can follows his adventures with the delight of a director who truly enjoys the story he's telling.