As serious as a drama and as funny as a comedy

Rating: 8/10 (4 June 2006)

According to me, biopics about little-known people are more interesting, because they're more surprising. Just before renting "Catch Me If You Can", I've never heard anything about Frank Abagnale Jr. Now, I know a lot of things...
Frank Abagnale Jr. was a young man (in fact, not 20 years old yet) who discovered that he had a real talent of forging other people and to make money from it. And the story itself is not a forge, because it really happened. All of the elements presented in the movie are not necessarily true, but the majority is. The trueness of the story is simply incredible and hard to believe.
Abagnale is played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who delivers a fairly splendid performance here. While he was in his late 20's during the filming, DiCaprio perfectly appears as a late teenage boy.
The other main character is FBI agent and fake checks specialist Carl Henratty, played by the incredible Tom Hanks. Henratty is the cat of the cat-and-mouse game and he personally runs after Abagnale on this wild ride in order to bring the kid to the justice. But the job isn't easy.
The main example is the famous hotel showdown. At this moment, Henratty only heard the Abagnale name and he doesn't have any sight of Abagnale's face. So, he meets Abagnale, but the young man acts like if he was an agent as well and Henratty falls into the trap. This situation is the funniest one in the entire movie.
Also highlighted must be Christopher Walken's performance as Abagnale's father.
There is no single mood into this movie. Sometimes, it is very dramatic and there are very special scenes. But it's also very comic and it surely is one of the lightest movies of Steven Spielberg's career as a director.
So, "Catch Me If You Can" is another jewel in Spielberg's filmography and so it is for DiCaprio and Hanks...