Groovy 60's fun from Spielberg

Rating: 9/10 (19 January 2003)

***SPOILERS IN REVIEW***
A breezy, very enjoyable film from the title credits onwards, Steven Spielberg's latest, 'Catch Me If You Can' is not a particularly important film from the blockbuster man, but it's good, guilt-free fun for a couple of hours. Frank William Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a young man, son of a stationery store owner and a mother from provincial France, whose life is suddenly torn apart when his apparently in love parents announce their imminent divorce. Young Abagnale panics at the very notion of his parents being apart and hot foots it down the streets of NYC. After this spontaneous running away, Frank Jr. must somehow make a livingwhich leads to the idea of forging bank cheques. This forgery doesn't go unnoticed by the FBI, where Special Agent Carl Hanratty (a bespectacled Tom Hanks) is on the case, desperate to track down the chameleonic Abagnale. After some credible impersonations of pilots, doctors, CIA agents and lawyers (and a few others), Abagnale has racked up almost $4 million and the FBI is close to tracking him down
At 140 minutes, the film feels a little too long, although the time doesn't drag with the proceedings. DiCaprio is excellent as Abagnale, Christopher Walken is tragically funny as Frank, Sr. and Hanks is good as the always-on-the-job, Hanratty. As I said, it's not a particularly significant film in Spielberg's career, but it's a lot of fun.
8.5/10