What would you do?

Rating: Null/10 (30 January 2003)

What if you were a teenage kid, fast on your feet and possessing the gift of gab? What if you found that by wearing the right suit and faking some checks you could fly wherever you want, buy cool cars and get the sort of women here-to-fore only glimpsed in the pages of forbidden men's magazines? Would you say `Get thee behind me Satan'? Would you go back to church, sing in the choir and date plump little Suzie from down the street? Nahneither would I, and neither did Frank Abagnale Jr., the `hero' of Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can
It's the early 60s and Frank is a teenager in need of an escape. His beloved Dad's a crook, his French mom's a floozy and impending family bankruptcy has forced Frank out of his pricey private school and into the public school system. What's a boy to do but impersonate a teacher for a week to show the world what-for? The success of his prank coupled with a chance encounter with an airline pilot shows Frank a rather questionable solution to his problems. Soon Frank, resplendent in a filched Pan-Am uniform is caging rides on airliners, cashing forged paychecks and scoring with the Stewsjust the type of therapy a mixed up kid needs. How this appealing young bunko artist is both brought to -and given a measure of - justice is the narrative thread of this absorbing fact based movie.
Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank as a bright, relatively normal kid who discovers natural talents well suited for a life of larceny. DiCaprio does an appealing job playing the character for simplicity and truth rather than the big effect. Tom Hanks plays Agent Carl Hanratty, the dogged FBI agent charged with catching Abagnale. Crusty to a fault but possessing a well-hidden streak of compassion, Hanratty battles both Frank and an FBI for who check-kiting is not high on the list of glamorous crimes.

One of the strengths of the movie is the way DiCaprio lies. The problem with most movies involving conmen is that their cons are usually enacted with a wink and a smile. Because the grifters come across as transparently phony their marks seem imbecilic to fall for them. Not so in Catch Me If You Can. Frank Abagnale moved among intelligent professionals who knew much more about the subject he was lying about than he did. Frank would have had to prevaricate with complete conviction to pull off his con. DiCaprio captures this. Despite the fact we are in on his game, when Frank passes himself off as a pilot or cop we half believe him ourselves. The marks have no reason not to believe him.
With Catch Me If You Can Spielberg is not straining for a blockbuster or trying to `hit one out of the park'. As a result the picture feels relaxed. Spielberg has an interesting story to tell and he delivers it like a master raconteur. It may not unseat Titanic at the box-office; it may not win a string of rewards. It does keep you constantly entertained, makes you care about Frank and Hanratty and gives you a sense of time well spent, an important feat in my book.