Catch Me If You Can, the 2002 film directed by Steven Spielberg tells the true story of the cunning Frank Abagnale Jr., who lied his way to the top. The movie follows Frank as he runs away from home at age 17 and works as a doctor, a lawyer, and as a co-pilot for PanAmerican Airlines. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Carl Hanratty is desperately trying to catch Frank to put a stop to his deceit and trickery. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank and Tom Hanks plays Hanratty, with Christopher Walken playing Frank Abagnale Sr., and Amy Adams playing Brenda Strong, Frank’s main love interest.
Genre : Crime/Drama
Age : 12+
My rating : 8/10
Summary : In 1963, seventeen-year-old Frank Abagnale Jr. lives in New York with his father Frank Abagnale Sr., and French mother, Paula. When his family is struggling with money, they are forced to move from their large home to a small apartment. Frank has to transfer to public school and on a whim decides to pose the substitute French teacher instead of a student. He gets discovered after a week and his parents are notified.
Later, Frank discovers his mother is having an affair with his father’s friend Jack Barnes. He doesn’t tell his father and shortly after, his parents tell him they are getting a divorce and tell him to pick who he wants to stay with. Frank runs away. Needing money, he turns to scams to survive and his cons grow bolder. He impersonates an airline pilot by buying a uniform and forges Pan Am payroll checks, using Pan Am stickers from the toy planes they sell.
FBI agent Carl Hanratty begins tracking Frank after hearing of his million dollar scams. Carl finds Frank at the hotel Frank is staying at, but Frank cons Carl into believing he is a Secret Service agent and gives Carl his wallet. He says he has already arrested Frank and leaves the building. Carl opens the wallet and realizes it is filled with coupons and carboard.
Frank begins to impersonate a doctor and a lawyer. As Dr. Frank Conners, he falls in love with Brenda, a naive young nurse. He asks Brenda’s attorney father for permission to marry her, and also wants his help with arranging to take the Louisiana State Bar exam, which Frank passes. Carl tracks Frank to his and Brenda’s engagement party, which they announced in the newspaper, but Frank escapes through a bedroom window seconds before Carl reaches him. The last thing he does is instruct Brenda to meet him at the Miami airport two days later, so they can run away together. At the airport, Frank sees Brenda, but also spots plainclothes agents everywhere and realizes it’s a trap. He leaves without her.
Frank then re-assumes his identity as a Pan Am pilot and stages a false recruiting drive for stewardesses at a local college. He interviews all the girls and picks the prettiest ones to work as stewardesses. He uses their beauty to conceal himself from Carl and the other agents walking through the Miami airport, and escapes on a flight to Madrid, Spain.
Carl eventually tracks down Frank in his mother’s hometown of Montrichard, France, where is he is mass-printing all his fake bills. Frank is taken to a French prison but almost dies because of the filth. Carl takes Frank on a plane back to the United States, and Frank asks to call his dad. Carl informs Frank that Frank Sr. has died. Grief-stricken, Frank escapes from the plane through the toilet! and goes to where his mother and stepfather live. As the police arrive, Frank surrenders after seeing his mother moved on with her life and has a young daughter. He is sentenced to 12 years in a maximum-security prison.
Carl occasionally visits him. During one visit, Carl shows Frank a check from a case he is working on and Frank immediately identifies that the bank teller was involved. Impressed, Carl convinces the FBI to allow Frank to serve the remainder of his sentence working for the FBI bank fraud unit. Frank agrees, but finds the work restrictive and misses his previous, exciting life.
He decides to run away again. He is intercepted by Carl, who tells Frank he knows Frank will come back to the FBI. On Monday, Carl is nervous when Frank has not yet arrived at the office. However, Frank eventually shows up, and they discuss their next case.
The ending credits reveal that Frank is real and has been married for 26 years, has three sons, lives in the Midwest and has maintained a friendship with Carl. He now earns millions of dollars as a bank security expert, has designed most of the world’s secure bank checks and has helped arrest numerous counterfeiters.
I rate this movie an 8/10. I really enjoyed the fast pace of the movie and watching Leonardo DiCaprio as Frank Abagnale was wonderful. He portrayed the childishness of Frank very well and then later on each of Frank’s different personalities. Tom Hanks was good too, but I think DiCaprio was the real star of the film. Watching Frank pull off each con is exciting as if you’re in on it and working together with him. My favorite scam of Frank’s is when he hires a girl (played by Jennifer Garner) and she asks for $1000 for the night. Frank pays her with a $1400 PanAm check and she gives him $400. In that moment I was amazed by his genius. Even while being tempted by a beautiful woman as a 17 year old kid, he still had his mind on the money and made a profit of $400. Overall, Catch Me If You Can is an exciting and thrilling watch and I reccomend it to anyone who is a fan of Spielberg, DiCaprio, Hanks, or crime thrillers.
