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'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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