He wasn't a pilot, a doctor a lawyer but he posed as all three

Rating: 8/10 (1 January 2013)

In the opening scenes we see protagonist Frank Abagnale Jr. as he appears as a guest on a television show; then we flash back several years and see him being extradited from France by FBI agent Carl Hanratty we then go even further back and start to see how an apparently ordinary teenager would become the most wanted fraudster in America. He leaves home when his parents' marriage fails then tries to cash cheques but nobody will except a cheque from an unknown teenager; then he hits upon an idea; he will become an airline pilot! Not a real pilot of course but with a uniform and a fake ID getting cheques cashed is easy; he also learns that it can get him free flights on other airlines. As he racks up the miles and cashes more and more cheques Agent Hanratty takes an interest in him and at one point almost catches him. It is time to hang up the uniform but Frank isn't going to stop his game; he spends time working as a doctor and then a lawyer before he is forced to run; eventually he is caught of course we'd seen that at the beginning. That isn't the end of Frank's story though .
This is essentially a caper movie with Frank trying one scheme after another; if we weren't told it was based on fact many parts would be unbelievable if it weren't for the way Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank as a person with extreme confidence. We get an hilarious example of this early on when Frank arrives at a new school and passes himself off as a substitute teacher for two weeks! Equally good is Tom Hanks' portrayal of the dogged Agent Henratty. There are well known actors doing fine jobs in minor roles too; these include Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen and Amy Adams. The story contains plenty of laugh out loud moments and little to offend although some may consider it somewhat amoral as Frank is such a likable character it is easy to want him to get away with his crimes! Overall I'd say that this was well worth watching; it may be over two hours long but that time just flew by.