A film about the consequences of divorce

Rating: 6/10 (3 April 2003)

There are two reasons which made me unable to enjoy this original and amusing story from A to Z. One is Leonardo DiCaprio, who, unfortunately, has the leading part in this film. He plays an 17-year-old boy who looks ten years older than he is, all right but he absolutely failed to convince me that he is really only 17. Sometimes he tries to play particularly `childish' in order to emphasize his real age but everything else  marrying, cheating, etc.  he does like Leonardo would do it, not like a minor whose parents got divorced (no matter how super-intelligent this minor may be).
The other problem is that this is a Steven Spielberg film. I was looking forward to see it because I thought maybe Spielberg has, for a change, chosen to tell a good-humoured story about a good-humoured sly fox in a good-humoured way. And I guess, any other director would have done so. But Spielberg would never get away from his crucial but corny theme: family. And he would make a family film out of every subject put in his hands. And this, in my opinion, harms the film very much. A movie based upon a true story can never be really true. So Spielberg had the chance to decide to skip famiy sentimentalities. But he didn't.
If you want to see a good film on family, watch The Royal Tenenbaums or the Danish documentary Family. If you want to see Catch Me If You Can, do so. It is really entertaining, brilliantly filmed and well acted by the whole cast with the exception of Leonardo DiCaprio. But do not be so naïve to give Steven Spielberg a second chance.