Catch Me If You Can (2002)
★★★½ — Catch Me If You Can (2002)
It actually happened. That's the bit that gets me every time. Frank Abagnale Jr. genuinely did this. He impersonated a pilot, a doctor, a lawyer. He cashed millions in fraudulent cheques. He outwitted the FBI for years. And he did it all before he was old enough to legally order a beer. Every time I remind myself that Catch Me If You Can is rooted in a true story, my brain does a little spin. The sheer audacity of the man is almost incomprehensible.
Spielberg keeps things moving at a clip. This is a director who knows how to hold your attention across two-plus hours, and he does it here without breaking a sweat. There's a lightness to the whole thing, a kind of gleeful momentum, that stops you ever really settling into a comfortable watching position. Just when you think you've got the rhythm of it, the story skips forward, drops you somewhere new, and you're scrambling to catch up. Which, fittingly, is exactly how the FBI must have felt.
DiCaprio is effortlessly charming in the lead. That's not a backhanded compliment either. Effortless charm is genuinely hard to pull off without it curdling into smugness, but he walks the line brilliantly. You're rooting for Frank even when you probably shouldn't be, which is exactly where the film needs you. And then there's Tom Hanks, doing something quietly brilliant on the other side of the chase. His FBI agent is weary, dogged, a little rumpled, and there's something in his performance that suggests a man who, despite himself, has developed a grudging respect for the person he's chasing. The dynamic between the two of them is the film's real engine.
John Williams delivers a score that's all cool jazz and smoky 1960s swagger, and the period detail is gorgeous throughout. The film looks the part from first frame to last, all sharp suits and TWA lounges and rotary dial phones. It's the kind of aesthetic that makes the whole era feel impossibly glamorous, which is, of course, part of the point. Frank Abagnale didn't just commit fraud, he made it look good.
Now, is it a little glossy? Yes. The rougher edges of the real story get smoothed away in favour of something more palatable and entertaining. There are moments where you feel the film choosing fun over truth, and you can either make your peace with that or let it nag at you. I've mostly made my peace with it. As far as true crime adaptations go, this is about as enjoyable as they come, and Spielberg earns the lightness of touch because he never lets you forget there's a real human cost underneath the fun. The father-son dimension, in particular, lands with more weight than the breezy surface might suggest.
It's worth saying: Spielberg's range continues to astonish me. From something as raw and personal as Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) to a caper as breezy as this, the man shifts gears with remarkable ease. And DiCaprio, who was putting in serious dramatic work around the same period (I reviewed Gangs of New York (2002) not long ago), shows here just how wide his range really is. The intensity he brought to that film and the lightness he brings to this one feel like they belong to two completely different actors.
Look, Catch Me If You Can isn't Spielberg's deepest film, and it doesn't pretend to be. It's a stylish, enormously entertaining chase movie dressed up in period glamour, powered by two great performances and a story so outrageous it almost writes itself. It almost makes you want to try forging a cheque. Almost.
Three and a half stars.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2002 | Watched: 2004-02-04
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Related on Movies With Macca
More from Steven Spielberg: Duel (1971) · Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) · E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982) · The Lost World: Jurassic Park (1997)
More with Leonardo DiCaprio: Blood Diamond (2006) · The Beach (2000) · One Battle After Another (2025) · Gangs of New York (2002)
More from the 2000s: Kirikou and the Wild Beasts (2005) · Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (2004) · Daredevil (2003) · Apocalypto (2006)
More drama: Viy (1967) · Wonder (2017) · A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Beautiful Boy (2018)
More crime: A Better Tomorrow (1986) · Angst (1983) · Stolen Face (1952) · Cairo Station (1958)
