An entertaining film

Rating: 8/10 (29 December 2002)

Just a short piece about "Catch Me.." (no spoilers here). I think Leonardo C was correctly cast. They needed someone who could pass for age 18 but also who was pretending to be 8 or 10 years older, as the featured main-character/con artist. He does look awfully young, but I think it came off ok. The understated score was by Williams (no surprise) but was very different from other works he has done, and generally works well for the film. It is as unlike the score for Harry Potter as night and day, and does demonstrate Williams' versatility (although Schindler's List has long since put any concerns in that area to rest). I was not able to identify the composer prior to seeing his name, momentarily wondering if it might possibly be Dave Grusin or perhaps J. N. Howard or even Howard Shore. The director is an excellent storyteller, but I am left wondering how others might have handled certain treatments. There was good audience reaction and I would imagine it will continue to do well at the box office. I would like to find out what the budget was, but for dart-throwing fun I would guess it at $75mil. Tom Hanks as the hapless FBI agent-in-charge is entertaining as well, and Christopher Walken also has a good part in this. I would imagine that I will see this film again, sometime.