The True Story of A Real Fake.

Rating: Null/10 (26 February 2014)

Inspired from a true story, Catch Me If You Can is the biopic of Frank Abagnale Jr., a mastermind conman who succeeded in forging millions of dollars worth of checks while disguised as an airline pilot, doctor & lawyer, all before turning 19 years of age, and apart from capturing the methods employed by this young & brilliant con artist to get his job done also covers his stint with the FBI agent, Carl Hanratty, who eventually hunts him down.
Although Steven Spielberg is yet to give a true cinematic masterpiece in the 21st century, Catch Me If You Can comes pretty close with nothing much to complain in any of the filmmaking departments and is one of his most enjoyable & entertaining films. The direction is dynamic, the script is lively, pacing is relentless with no dragging moment & music by John Williams suits the Spielberg's story just the way it always has in the past.
Amongst the performances, Tom Hanks is seriously good as the FBI agent who is trying to track down our conman but is also fond of him. Christopher Walken chips in with another good work as Frank Abagnale Sr. & Amy Adams as Brenda Strong has an innocent presence too. But the one who impresses the most is Leonardo DiCaprio as the teenaged con artist, Frank Abagnale Jr., and delivers an energetic, confident & versatile performance.
On an overall scale, Catch Me If You Can is a light-hearted work of quality entertainment that is smartly directed, smoothly paced, ingeniously performed, firmly edited & nicely scored but benefits most from DiCaprio's show-stealing performance under the assured direction of Spielberg, and is as charming as its lead character in spite of all its flaws.