Easily the best film of 2002!!!

Rating: 10/10 (28 December 2002)

The film is based on the true life story of Frank Abignale Jr (Leonardo DiCaprio)who proved to be the most successful con-man in history by being able to assume several different identities which included a history professor, a lawyer, a doctor, and a Secret Service agent, to cash more than 4 million dollars in fake checks in the United States as well as 26 other countries. Carl Harnatty ( Tom Hanks) is the FBI agent in charge of running the Check Fraud division of the FBI. "Catch Me If You Can" takes us on the exciting and extremely funny cat and mouse chase between the two men.
I have now seen both "Lord of the Rings - The Two Towers", and "Catch Me If You Can." "Catch Me If You Can" is a lot better, and easily the best film of 2002. The film succeeds on so many levels. The first is that the film is based on the amazing true life story of Frank Abignale Jr. He was the most cunning and successful con-man in history, and was able to accomplish everything he did before the age of 19. What makes the film even better, is the fact that it follows extremely close to the novel of the same name, written by Frank himself. The next reason is because of the direction of Stephen Spielberg. The film was paced extremely well, and even though the film is almost 2 1/2 hours, it never seems long, or drawn out. The set designs were also very authentic, and he managed to get the best performances possible out of the actors. This of course leads into the third reason of the film's success which were the amazing performances given from the cast. Leonardo Dicaprio has never really done it for me before. I love his films, but not him. However, he gave the best performance of his career. He is extremely witty and cunning which let him play the different identities of doctor, lawyer, etc so convincingly. Tom Hanks was awesome as Carl Harnatty. He will amaze you with the determination he gives to catch Frank. But he will also make you laugh with his Boston accent, and how naive he can be. At one point, Abignale is able to convince Carl that he is a Secret Service agent working on the case. Alias' Jennifer Garder, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, and the rest of the cast were all excellent as well. Finally, the film is down right hillarious and fun to watch overall. I was laughing for the whole entire film, and I actually enjoyed watching Frank from one moment to the next.
"Catch Me If You Can" offers an extremely accurate portrayal of Frank's Abignale Jr.'s life, outstanding performances, outstanding direction from Spielberg, and you will laugh harder than you ever have before. If you are having a hard time deciding to what to watch this holiday season, "Catch Me If You Can" is definately a film that you need to see!
10/10 A+