Review of Catch Me If You Can (2002) by Anssi V — 19 Dec 2013

This was the movie that personally convinced me that DiCaprio had a future as an actor beyond Titanic. People used dismiss him as that kid from Titanic, I did as well, but he has grown to become one of Hollywood's top actors and I personally saw this coming while watching this film.

Catch Me If You Can is also one of those films that I'd recommend if someone had no idea who Steven Spielberg was and wanted to give one of his movies a try. Because in many ways it has a lot of his characteristics in it. It's seemingly light-hearted, has an A-list cast, has a great score and the story is pure entertainment, yet the movie also takes it time, here and there, to address slightly darker themes - in this case the reason why Frank Abagnale Jr. (DiCaprio) grew up to become such a trickster.

The movie rides heavily on the charisma and acting abilities of its two main stars, DiCaprio and Hanks, and in this case there's really nothing wrong with it. The story is decent enough to support these two and it's a valid choice to have your movie focus on the characters, especially if they're interesting enough, like they are in here. That's the essence of a heist movie, which this movie really is, even though it's not about a single con.

And that's this movie. Its focus on entertainment keeps it from being a solid nine or ten star film, but only just. As it is, it's a fun little romp that you're sad to see come to an end. Heavily recommended to fans of heist genre, and for those that like charismatic performances and fun little twists.