Charming film, with superb performance by Walken

Rating: 8/10 (7 March 2005)

From 1963 to 1969 Frank Abignale Jr made the FBI ten most wanted list by performing awe inspiring confidence scams and stealing millions of dollars by forging cheques.
Catch me if you can tells the story of teenage Frank (Dicaprio), as he flees a broken home and sets off to gain enough money to rebuild his family. Frank sees the respect that certain professions command and manages to successfully pass himself off as a Pilot, Doctor and a Lawyer, (all, in part, to impress his father). He soon gains the attention of FBI agent Carl Hanratty, (Hanks) who hunts him for years and gradually develops a near fatherly fondness for him.
Dicaprio gives an outstanding performance that firmly establishes him as perhaps the finest actor of his generation. He perfectly blends a charismatic, cocky teenager with deep down fragility and emptiness that was caused by his parents split. The gut wrenching choose a parent scene strikes home to all of us how traumatic a parental divorce must be. The character development is spot on, from goofy teen to a worldly con man that can no longer distinguish between truth and fiction.
Hanks does well, playing a bookish FBI everyman with a touch of a sinister 1950s man in black. However Christopher Walken, as Frank's father, is superb and lifts the father son scenes from over sentimental Spielberg tosh, to highly charged and touching encounters. An award worthy performance that will have you blinking back the tears.
The delightfully nostalgic opening credits set the tone for this charming film that is genuinely heart-warming and fun. The trailer is misleading as this is not fast paced chase film, but a dark, character driven, true story that will have you hooked from the first few scenes. Dicaprio oozes charm, whilst at the same time showing a vulnerable, lonely side that will have you routing for him every step of the way. It is possibly 20 minutes too long, and it feels as though the last few scenes were tacked on at the end. However the end scene pulls the whole story together and gives the film a completeness that will have you smiling as you leave the cinema. An engaging and touching tale about a boys wish to be part of a family.