Catch Me If You Can

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (12)

D: Steven Spielberg

Dreamworks/Amblin (Steven Spielberg & Walter F. Parkes)

USA 🇺🇸 2002

141 mins

Comedy/Drama

W: Jeff Nathanson [based on the book by Frank W. Abagnale & Stan Redding]

DP: Janusz Kaminski

Ed: Michael Kahn

Mus: John Williams

PD: Jeannine Oppewall

Cos: Mary Zophres

Leonardo DiCaprio (Frank W. Abagnale), Tom Hanks (Carl Hanratty), Christopher Walken (Frank Abagnale, Sr.), Martin Sheen (Roger Strong), Nathalie Baye (Paula Abagnale), Amy Adams (Brenda Strong), James Brolin (Jack Barnes)

Based on the true story of Frank W. Abagnale, a teenage runaway who played cat-and-mouse with the FBI for years, whilst embezzling money from big corporations, impersonating employees of high standing and living the life of a fraud.

Some might say it's a strange film for Spielberg to direct, but it has his usual trademark of a lead character from a broken home, plus other of the director's usual flourishes. It's a mite overlong, with some scenes delivering nothing to the plot, especially the opening which seems to take place on a gameshow, but isn't referred to again after the credit sequence.

Perhaps if this were structured better, it would be a better film, but it does feature good performances from it's two leads and a fantastic performance from Christopher Walken as the fraudster's unmoving father. Well worth catching.

8/10