Catch Me If You Can

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Catch Me If You Can (16-Dec-2002)

Name Occupation Birth Death Known for

Frank Abagnale Criminal 27-Apr-1948 Catch Me If You Can

Amy Acker Actor 5-Dec-1976 Fred on Angel

Amy Adams Actor 20-Aug-1974 Junebug

Elizabeth Banks Actor 10-Feb-1974 The Baxter

Nathalie Baye Actor 6-Jul-1948 Day for Night

James Brolin Actor 18-Jul-1940 Brubaker in Capricorn One

Kitty Carlisle Singer 3-Sep-1910 18-Apr-2007 A Night at the Opera

Leonardo DiCaprio Actor 11-Nov-1974 Titanic

Joe Garagiola Baseball 12-Feb-1926 St. Louis Cardinal turned sportscaster

Jennifer Garner Actor 17-Apr-1972 Alias

Tom Hanks Actor 9-Jul-1956 Forrest Gump

Sarah Lancaster Actor 12-Feb-1980 Saved by the Bell: The New Class

Ellen Pompeo Actor 10-Nov-1969 Grey's Anatomy

Martin Sheen Actor 3-Aug-1940 Apocalypse Now and The West Wing

Christopher Walken Actor 31-Mar-1943 The Dead Zone

REVIEWS

Review by anonymous (posted on 4-Feb-2005)

Enjoyable, if feather-light, dramatization of the life of Frank W. Abagnale, Jr., a teenage con artist who, for four years in the 1960's, evaded the FBI while writing millions of dollars' worth of forged checks and posing as an airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer. Abagnale's story practically screamed "This would make a great movie!" and in the end, it makes for a good movie. It's nice to see Spielberg set aside his obsessions with computer graphics and World War II for once and just cut loose. Both he and his cast (Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale, Tom Hanks as the hapless FBI agent on his trail) are clearly having a lot of fun. That spirited attitude is infectious, too - you won't feel bored or insulted. But I do wish it could have been a little deeper. Though apparently Abagnale's autobiography is just as flippant as the movie, the real Frank must have gone through some paranoid, lonely times. The story only skims the surface, rather lamely suggesting that Frank's pathological need to keep running, and keep lying, was simply a reaction to his parents' divorce. It could have even depicted Frank's anti-authoritarian actions as a harbinger of the national unrest that unfolded so soon after his arrest, but no. So some missed opportunities there. I also didn't dig the cinematography by Spielberg's frequent DP Janusz Kaminski. He's a great talent, but this time he overlights everything. The early 60's should have been captured as squeaky clean, a better backdrop for Abagnale's crimes. Instead it's all hazy and backlit. Oh well. It's still a fun little movie, one that won't mean much in the long run, but will cleanse the palate before Spielberg's next big epic.

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