Terrific Story of Real-Life Con-Artist and Impersonator Frank Abagnale Jr. Lived by "If You Can't Beat 'Em Join 'Em": DeCaprio's Finest Performance

Rating: 10/10 (19 January 2011)

Unlike most criminals, we all tend to like con artists or "confidence men". Con artists have to be likable, and they have to be so convincing that "being taken" never enters your mind. The perfect con is one where the mark never realizes he or she has been had. Frank Abagnale Jr. was one smart and likable kid who realized early on that a lot of decisions are often based on artificial perceptions which may have nothing to do with reality. If you lay in front of people certain visual clues which play into people's preconceived notions, including their prejudices (which can be sometimes positive), you can steer people into a particular understanding which may have nothing to do with reality. Abagnale decided to test this idea by dressing as an airline pilot. And it worked; he found that simply wearing the uniform convinced people he was an airline pilot, and therefore trustworthy.
After his parents divorce, Frank Abagnale Jr. runs away from home and has to figure out how he can make a living. He learns how to forge cheques, but he can't get anyone to take his cheque since they don't "know him". He has no luck until he sees some airline pilots with their entourage of beautiful stewardesses, all in Pan Am regalia. In their uniforms, airline pilots appear to be the equivalent of nobility, with people staring in wonder as they pass by. In the 1960's, people had an idealized perception of airline pilots as honest and even heroic, a kind of positive prejudice. If Abagnale could project the illusion of being an airline pilot, he might be given carte blanche to cash his forged cheques. Why not join the party? It's even better than donning a Superman outfit.
Through some ingenious maneuvering, Abagnale acquires a uniform and an ID card to pass himself off as a co-pilot for Pan Am. What he finds is much more than he bargained for. By simply wearing his uniform and carrying a forged ID card, Abagnale opens bank accounts, flies on airlines for free, even gets free room and board at the expense of the airline. And he's cashing millions of dollars worth of Pan Am cheques. Everything seems to be going his way until the feds pick up the scent of a prolific cheque counterfeiter and con-artist. Pan Am knows about the fraud and they aren't going to look away. Pan Am and the Feds know he is posing as someone in the airline industry, but they don't know who he is. They misidentify him as a young man in his early 30's. Abagnale is not even 18. The Feds realize their mistake, and Abagnale, to lose their scent, becomes someone else, first a medical doctor, then an attorney. And the cat-and-mouse game is on.
Certainly, in retrospect, everything does seem a little too easy, but when watching it, I bought into it, hook, line and sinker, just like I was being taken by a good con artist. A couple of scenes point out he's getting in over his head, particularly a judicial hearing in which DiCaprio, based on some footage he sees on the TV show "Perry Mason", starts presenting evidence like a prosecutor at trial. But Abagnale, having not been to law school, doesn't know the difference between a hearing and a trial. This seemed pretty realistic. A similar scene also occurs when he's practicing medicine.
This is just a great joy ride of a film, an incredibly compelling story, and possibly my favorite performance by DiCaprio. The combination of DiCaprio's performance, Spielberg's direction, and the fantastic script keep everything moving, making you believe you've been through this roller coaster along with Abagnale. In modern life, we often want to fantasize being something else, the grass is always greener in the other yard, etc. Frank Abagnale took that idea to the extreme and led a life where he realized his true fantasies.