Catch Me If You Can

***Catch Me If You Can*** is a 2002 American biographical crime film directed and produced by Steven Spielberg from a screenplay by Jeff Nathanson and starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. The supporting cast features Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, Jennifer Garner, James Brolin, and Malachi Throne.

## Plot

Frank Abagnale, Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) worked as a doctor, a lawyer, and as a co-pilot for a major airline -- all before his 18th birthday. A master of deception, he was also a brilliant forger, whose skill gave him his first real claim to fame: At the age of 17, Frank Abagnale, Jr. became the most successful bank robber in the history of the U.S. FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) makes it his prime mission to capture Frank and bring him to justice, but Frank is always one step ahead of him.

## Why It Catch It

1. *Catch Me If You Can* follows faithfully of the historical event novel of the same name.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks are great as Frank Abagnale Jr. and Carl Hanratty. But the best performance is Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale Sr. in the supporting cast, who pretty much steals the whole film with his performance. A well-earned Oscar nomination.
3. The real Frank Abagnale made a cameo appearance in this film as a French police officer taking DiCaprio into custody.
4. Carl confronting a bored and unhappy Frank who's attempting one more run as a fake pilot rather than keep working for the FBI, and then letting him go flee saying "I'm not chasing you anymore," but makes it clear if Frank doesn't come back to work the next week he loses his probation and gets sent back to jail for good. Next week comes around and Carl is honestly worried that Frank violated his probation, but when Frank quietly slips in to give his advice on an impressive bounced check Carl is genuinely relieved.
5. The opening credits set the stage for the rest of the movie is well-animated. We see minimal animated characters playing out the film, with a cop in a trenchcoat chasing a figure that keeps changing outfits.
6. Frank Abagnale has a ton of nice moments (that show he has balls of rock), but the best one is when Agent Hanratty walks into the hotel room that Frank's been using to forge cheques with gun out, Frank steps out of the bathroom, never misses a beat in pretending to be a Secret Service agent and then, once the FBI agent has lowered his gun... asks to see some ID. Balls of rock? Screw that, he's got balls of titanium.
7. The fictional characters are likable, such as Carl Hanratty, an FBI agent who is based on Joseph Shea.
8. When Frank successfully passes himself off as a Secret Service agent, he gets Hanratty to babysit his room while Frank takes his "evidence" with him. Carl sits by himself before deciding to finally look into the wallet that Frank handed him minutes earlier...only to notice it's filled with food labels to pass itself off as a full billfold. Horrified, Carl runs to the window, where Frank is already in the distance running off, bulky typewriter in his arms.
9. The musical score by John Williams is excellent, especially the opening credits theme.
10. Steven Spielberg's directing is incredibly well done and still retains the charms where it never declined the career.
11. Some scene are well done, such as the chase scenes with Carl and Frank, where Frank is about to escape.
12. "Knock-knock"
13. Frank Abagnale Jr. (both the movie and real-life counterpart) is a relatable character when it comes to having deceived people to get your way. He's also the type of criminal that never killed anybody.
14. A good message about redemption and finding use for your skills that used to be used with malice.

## Bad Qualities

1. Sometimes, there are historical inaccuracies or things that were outright changed from the real story. But the real life Frank Abagnale said the movie was 80% true to his book.
	* One major difference between the movie and real life is that the real Frank Abagnale Sr. was not a con man. In fact, Frank Jr. conned him when he was 15 years old.
2. The movie's final act does drag a little bit.

## Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a "certified fresh" rating of 96% based on 203 reviews, with an average rating of 7.90/10. The site's critical consensus reads: "With help from a strong performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as real-life wunderkind con artist Frank Abagnale, Steven Spielberg crafts a film that's stylish, breezily entertaining, and surprisingly sweet.". On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 39 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".