'Catch Me If You Can' is based on the true story of Frank
Abagnale Jr., a confidence trickster who defrauded banks of millions of
dollars in the 1960s. He got his forged cheques cashed by exploiting his
charm, good looks and chameleon-like adaptability - all while still a
teenager - and successfully impersonated a substitute French teacher,
a Pan-Am co-pilot, a Harvard-trained paediatrician, and a Berkeley-trained
attorney. Pursued for six years through the USA and Europe by FBI Fraud
Squadman Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), Frank was finally captured, only to
be offered a consultancy job in Carl's own department.
Director Stephen Spielberg is himself a past master at convincing people
to part with their well-earned money. Like any good con-artist, Spielberg
knows full well that the key to success lies in showing people what they
want to see and telling them what they want to hear, because palatable
fictions are always easier to swallow than unattractive truths. So he
shows us a pretty face (Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank) and dresses it in
his usual appealing mix of family values, boyhood nostalgia and tear-inducing
hokum, distracting our attention almost entirely from the selfish, antisocial
criminality which lies at the heart of Frank's behaviour. We hear the
humorous names that Frank adopts, but none of the names of his victims.
This directorial sleight of hand illustrates graphically the point made
by Frank's father (played by Christopher Walken) that 'the rest of us
really are suckers'. If we left the cinema disliking Frank, we would no
doubt feel that we had been ripped off.
'Catch Me If You Can' is a beautiful recreation of the 1960s as they
were viewed by the cinema of the time. The casting is spot on, with DiCaprio
playing someone who is all charisma and no substance, and Hanks portraying
a bland father figure. The story itself is full of ballsy bravado and
the sort of incredible (but true) twists which will leave you gasping.
Yet in the end, the material becomes somewhat bogged down by Spielberg's
trademark heavy-handed attempts to package everything in terms of parent-son
relationships.
Catch it if you can, but don't be too taken in.
Anton Bitel, 02.02.03
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