God, this movie makes DiCaprio look awesome.
Based on a true story, Frank Abagnale Jr is one of the best con artists stories you’ll hear of. He was an airplane pilot, lawyer, and doctor without even going to college. His professional forging ability and con behavior was fostered when he was a boy watching his Dad finesse on numerous occasions. Where the “Catch me if you can” fits in the story is when Frank is being chased by FBI agent, Carl Hanratty. First he chooses to be an airline pilot, he acquires all the resources he needs to pose as one, and starts forging checks through the airline. He starts making money without ever flying an airplane. Then, after an amazing escape away from Hanratty when he pops up at one of his hotel rooms, he decides he needs a career change. Frank’s now a doctor, still forging checks until we stumble upon our love interest of the movie, Brenda Strong (Amy Adams). His tail heats up even more but it doesn’t matter because he’s inspired to become a lawyer when meeting Brenda’s father. He passed the Louisiana bar test and his tail couldn’t be closer to getting him. Hanratty knows he almost has Abagnale Jr and the question remains, will he be fooled again or does he know Frank all too well?
The Pros
It’s easy to get distracted by DiCaprio and forget that this movie also had Christopher Walken and Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks does such a good job playing the no fun, by-the-book Carl Hanratty. The writing between Hanratty and Frank makes the movie fun to follow since there’s a sense of banter and familiarity between the two. Their relationship develops as the movie progresses and by the end their relationship is the opposite of what you’d expect it to be. Christopher Walken’s character provided another entertaining relationship with Frank. Their strong love for each other and Frank Jr striving to impress his dad, is one angle of the story to analyze.
There were a lot of good individual scenes and cinematography throughout Catch Me If You Can. My favorite had to be the one where he escapes through the Miami airport with all the flight attendants as his disguise. The scenes of him forging all of his checks were very cool and actually showed how he would do it, which I liked that they included.
The Cons
They say that an actor or actress has done a good job if you hate their character even if their character is one you’re meant to dislike. That is exactly how I feel with Carl Hanratty. He is so damn annoying because you’re supposed to root for Frank as a viewer, but all Hanratty does is get in the way. Of course, what else is he supposed to do, not take down Frank? I’m not saying Hanratty shouldn’t be chasing Frank, but that his character was just annoying. Hanratty just occupied so much of my focus because of how annoying he was while watching, that It annoyed me after all was said and done.
Not much that blew my mind with this movie, but nothing in it that I absolutely hated. The score is a 72.