The Sara Lee of films

Rating: 1/10 (5 November 2003)

***This review contains spoilers***
The biggest problem I have with this film is the same one I had with Coppolla's `Dracula': this film is a hodgepodge of vignettes, less a continuous stream than a series of carefully crafted scenes. Normally the editing process of a film patches the scenes together into a unified whole, so that the resulting film flows, but in this film nearly every scene opens and closes like its own little film, leaving little room for character development. I have no idea what motivates Frank Abagnale, for example. One might be tempted to look at the failure of the family business or his parents' divorce as a catalyst, but still we are given absolutely no insight into the character. It would have been nice to see the characters given a little humanity instead of looking and acting like stiff background characters from some crappy 1960s cartoon.
In one of the most bald-faced product placements I've ever seen, three FBI agents, including Hanks, are invited in to Franks's mother's house for `Sara Lee'. One of the agents says: `nobody doesn't like Sara Lee.' That might be true if the only food you've ever eaten is tree bark, but the waxy, unsatisfying desserts offered by Sara Lee are the Keanu Reeves of the dessert world: they look good, but have no substance.

Situations arise and disappear like zephyrs. Why does Frank apply for the job at the hospital, did he get tired of being a pilot? He gets the job at the hospital, okay that's simultaneously interesting and funny, but then what happens? Does he quit, is he fired? How does the girl get back together with her parents, did they forgive her, does she keep her job? How did Frank perform as an attorney? When and how did he buy a house in Atlanta? Who are all those people at his house? What was the deal with model/prostitute? The whole scene served absolutely no purpose. There are dozens and dozens of unanswered questions such as these, from start to finish, leaving a curiously empty, unsatisfying feeling, much like eating a frozen dessert made with artificial chemicals. That Sara Lee gets such a high-profile product placement in this film is no coincidence, I am sure.
Christopher Walken gives one of his best performances as Frank's father. Like Richard Farnsworth in The Straight Story, Walken's face tells more about the character than anything he could ever say. His performance is so rich and deep that he should be nominated for best supporting actor. LDC, having shown so much promise in `What's Eating Gilbert Grape,' is merely adequate in the role of Frank Abagnale; he's no Christopher Walken, that's for sure. Hanks plays himself, doing his best Robin Williams impression of Tom Hanks playing a dramatic role, occasionally raising his voice just like he's been doing since Bosom Buddies. Hanks is the Sara Lee of actors.
All in all, this is an interesting film, albeit a curiously empty one. The day after you watch it, you won't remember any of it.