Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, Martin Sheen, James Brolin, Jennifer Garner, Frank John Hughes, Brian Howe. Directed by Steven Spielberg. Frank Abignale Sr. (Walken) is an army vet who, at the end of World War II, saw a lovely singer (Baye) in a French cafe and decided to he was going to marry her. And he did, bringing her home to America. Fifteen years later, the IRS is on his back and takes away almost all of his money, such that he has to sell his Cadillac, move his family out of their beautiful suburban home and have Frank Jr. (DiCaprio) leave private school. Frank Sr. is a dreamer, and constantly spins the truth to suit him, and Frank Jr. has his old man's talent. When being hassled by some football jock at his new public school, Frank Jr. pretends he's the replacement French teacher and succeeds at it for over a week. But Frank Jr.'s world is torn apart when his parents abruptly announce they're divorcing, and on the spot demand that he choose whom he wants to live with. Instead, he runs away, and begins a four year chase that has him impersonating airline pilots, doctors, lawyers and other things to support himself. He also gets a fiancee Brenda (Adams) and works for her prosecutor father (Sheen). But the thing that he does best is cheque fraud, producing authentic-looking cheques using bank equipment he bought at an auction. That nets him over $4 million during his spree. Serious FBI bank fraud investigator Carl Hanratty (Hanks) is on the case, and refuses to give up the search over the years, even though he has Frank right in front of him twice but fails to catch him, and even though Frank leaves for Europe to continue his crime spree there. Catch Me If You Can is a feel-good movie, an inspirational movie without the usual manipulations and saccharine those terms usually infer. The movie captures a similar spirit to the very enjoyable Ocean's Eleven of last year, where action takes a back seat to enjoyable character interaction. Spielberg has created a very entertaining, very positive story of two men whose lives have both gone bad on different sides of the law, but form a friendship that is reputed to have lasted to this day. The real Frank Abignale, whose book and life this movie is based on, first helped the FBI catch criminals like him, and now makes over a million annually helping banks and other corporations prevent cheque forgers and fraud artists from successfully defrauding them. While portraying young Frank's life as exciting, rich and a lot of fun, the movie is careful not to show his life as carefree and that he inevitably gets caught. Crime doesn't pay, you know. The film consistently shows the stresses and the lack of connection Frank it doomed to experience because he always has to keep moving. This is starkly illustrated when Frank falls in love with Brenda and would like to settle down, but when he realizes it won't work, he'd like the whole thing to stop. But it can't. The film is hazy on Frank's motivation for his spree but gives hints. Frank steals far more money from the banks than he ever uses, suggesting he wants to get back at the banks for not loaning his father money when he desperately needed it to keep his store afloat. In later conversations with his dad, he continually wants to buy back the Cadillac and the house to give to his father, pressuring his dad to phone his mother and have them get back together. DiCaprio is sensational as the charming, fun-loving Frank, using his skills to best effect. But Hanks is equally as good He allows himself to play second fiddle to Leo, and injects Carl with decency and empathy that makes the film more than the usual crime film. If you want a very entertaining, very enjoyable time at the movies, catch this movie if you can. If you would like to respond, please click the E-Mail Press Here To Go To The Review List Page