Catch Me If You Can (2002) – A Movie Review

“Catch Me If You Can” is the screen adaptation of the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr.; a boy who at the age of sixteen years old impersonates an airline pilot, a medical doctor and a lawyer and steals millions of dollars as he crisscrosses the United States and the rest of the world forging and passing bad checks.

(Spoiler Alert – Skip down to last paragraph to avoid spoilers and read recommendation)

Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale Jr. a New York city teenager whose parents Frank Sr. (played by Christopher Walken) and Paula are divorcing due to the IRS fraud investigation that has swallowed up Frank Sr.’s livelihood.  Rather than acknowledge his parents’ split he runs away.  And while trying to survive on his own he figures out how to impersonate adults like airline pilots and forge checks.

Eventually his successful check forging career catches the attention of the FBI’s bank crimes division in the person of Carl Hanratty played by Tom Hanks.  But for a while Frank’s dead-heading from city to city on airline flights keeps him one step ahead.  But eventually Hanratty learns Frank’s true identity and Frank tries to throw him off his trail by laying low.  He impersonates a doctor down in Atlanta at a small hospital.  Eventually he tries to settle down with a nurse who wants to marry him.  Her father (played by Martin Sheen) is a successful lawyer down in Louisiana and Frank convinces him that he’s not only a doctor but also has a law degree and after (legitimately) passing the Louisiana bar exam he settles in to become his future father-in-law’s assistant prosecutor.  But just as the engagement is being celebrated Hanratty shows up and Frank bails out the back window and escapes.

Frank leaves the United States and travels around Europe and elsewhere but eventually Hanratty catches up to him in France and brings him back to America.  He makes one last desperate break by escaping from an airliner bathroom through the pipe chase and escaping out of the taxiing plane.  But Hanratty finds him when he tries to see his mother and drags him off to jail.  He is convicted of grand theft and sentenced to twelve years in prison.

But over the course of several years Hanratty visits Frank in prison and decides the FBI could use his extraordinary knowledge of check fraud.  He gets Frank released into Hanratty’s custody and eventually Frank becomes a valuable asset to law enforcement and eventually becomes extremely rich perfecting fraud countermeasures for banks and other financial institutions.

This is a remarkably entertaining movie.  I’m assuming a lot has been stretched from the literal truth for the sake of enhancing the plot.  But if even a quarter of the things he did in the movie are true, it’s a remarkable story.  Frank Jr.’s brilliance as a criminal and a confidence man is contrasted with his search to restore the family life that is exploded in the beginning of the movie when his father’s wealth is snatched away by the IRS and his wife leaves him.  The interplay between these two facets of his existence gives poignancy to the story.  The ironic aspect is that every Christmas Frank Jr. calls Carl Hanratty to talk and Carl figures out that Frank calls because he has no one else to talk to.  It’s a very strange relationship between the two of them but it is effectively portrayed.  All the main characters are acted very ably and for once Spielberg directs a picture in a very balanced and well-paced way.  I’ll say this movie comes highly recommended.