Catch Me If You Can (2002)
★★★½ — Catch Me If You Can (2002)
Few true crime stories lend themselves to the big screen quite as naturally as that of Frank Abagnale Jr., a young American con artist who, during the 1960s, is said to have successfully impersonated a Pan Am airline pilot, a paediatrician, and a Louisiana prosecutor, all while cashing fraudulent cheques running into the millions of dollars. He was, by most accounts, still a teenager for much of it. Hollywood has always had a soft spot for the charming rogue, but Abagnale's story pushes the genre to its outer limits, sitting somewhere between caper comedy and genuine crime drama. Released in December 2002, Catch Me If You Can arrived with DreamWorks Pictures behind it and a tagline that rather neatly summed the whole thing up: "The true story of a real fake."
The film marked another chapter in Steven Spielberg's remarkably varied career, coming hot on the heels of far weightier fare and demonstrating, once again, his easy fluency across different registers and tones. If you want a sense of just how far back that range goes, his very first feature, Duel (1971), was a lean, almost wordless road thriller, while Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977) showed a director equally at home with wonder and spectacle. Catch Me If You Can sits in its own category among his work: lighter on its feet than most of his output, polished but unremarkable in terms of visual ambition, and content to let charm and momentum do the heavy lifting. The screenplay, written by Jeff Nathanson, was adapted from Abagnale's own memoir of the same name, co-written with Stan Redding, though it is worth noting that the accuracy of Abagnale's original account has itself been the subject of some scrutiny over the years.
At the centre of it all is Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale, a role that asked him to be slippery, sympathetic, and convincing in half a dozen different guises across a 141-minute runtime. By 2002, DiCaprio was already established as one of his generation's more interesting screen presences, and it is easy to see why the part suited him (he had the youth, the lightness, and the watchability the role required). You can get a further sense of that range in his work in Gangs of New York (2002), released the same year, where the demands on him were considerably darker. Opposite DiCaprio, Tom Hanks plays Carl Hanratty, the dogged FBI agent on Abagnale's trail, bringing a kind of rumpled, decent stubbornness to a role that could easily have been thankless. Christopher Walken appears as Abagnale's father, and his scenes carry a quiet, affecting weight that grounds the film whenever it threatens to drift into pure fantasy. Martin Sheen and French actress Nathalie Baye round out a strong supporting cast, with Baye in particular bringing a welcome European texture to proceedings.
The fact this actually happened is insane to me. It’s genuinely mind-blowing that Catch Me If You Can is based on a true story. Frank Abagnale Jr. wasn’t just a conman, he was THE conman, outwitting the FBI while posing as a pilot, doctor, and lawyer before he was even old enough to legally drink. Spielberg’s direction keeps the pace snappy, DiCaprio is effortlessly charming, and Tom Hanks plays the weary, determined FBI agent with just the right mix of frustration and admiration. The 1960s aesthetic, the jazzy John Williams score, the globetrotting antics, it all makes for a stylish, endlessly entertaining ride. Sure, it’s a little glossy, smoothing out some of the rougher edges of the real story, but as far as true crime adaptations go, it’s one of the most fun you’ll ever watch. Almost makes you want to try forging a cheque yourself… almost.
What stays with me, beyond the sheer entertainment of it all, is how much of the film's success rests on that central relationship between Hanratty and Abagnale. It's a cat-and-mouse story, yes, but there's something genuinely touching underneath all the globe-trotting glamour, a sort of unlikely mutual respect between two people who probably needed each other more than either would admit. The glossiness I mentioned does occasionally make you wonder what a grittier version of this story might have looked like, but honestly, I'm not sure I'd trade what we have. Sometimes a film earns its good time, and this one earns it properly. Not every true story needs to be harrowing to be worth telling.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2002 | Watched: 2004-02-04
Trailer
▶ Watch the official trailer for Catch Me If You Can (2002) on YouTube
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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)
