Very funny, very stylish, very very good

Rating: Null/10 (11 February 2003)

The story is about a con-man. I won't divulge more than the trailer does, at least I'll try not to. This con-man, Frank- played by Leonardo DiCaprio, is still a school kid, his talents for forgery, lying and acting all he has going for him really.
He is essentially a lonely teenager, fraught by the woe of his parents' break up. In his teenage naivity he assumes this is because of his father's problems with the IRS and his company going under. It is actually the reason, but although it destroys his father it only releases his mother from a life she was already tiring of.
Frank doesn't realise this and sets off on a quest to forge cheques (or checks depending on which side of the Atlantic you are) and make the money back to save his parents' marriage. Little does he realise there is nothing he can do as he digs a deeper and deeper hole for himself.
Hanks plays the detective, who's career rests on him catching this boy. He plays it superbly as usual, another notch for his already fine repertoire. He delivers lines with dead-pan humour and heart-breaking sadness, on occasion at the same time.
In fact every actor is spot on in this. DiCaprio's innocent appearance fits the part perfectly, Walken is as ever, and the rest of the support is well cast and as you'd hope, go unnoticed.
The production of this film is fantastic also. From the opening credits sequence through to the period setting, the costumes, the pacing and editing. It is not 'the greatest story ever told', but it is a damn good one, told as well as it possibly could have been.
The only issue I've heard raised on this film is how Frank is portrayed as the hero of the story when he is actually a criminal. Well, go and see it, you will see him portrayed with compassion but certainly not with any condoning of his actions.