Catch it if you can

reviewed Fri, 14 Feb 2003

Catch Me If You Can is a lively, fun romp that falters only when it tries to get serious. Its snazzy opening credit sequence with wood-block animation sets the tone of a sophisticated, breezy, Sixties caper, like The Thomas Crown Affair or Charade. As Leonardo DiCaprio’s Frank Abagnale escalates his impersonations from substitute teacher to airline pilot to pediatrician, though, the movie tries to assume gravity. Sometimes this works – it’s touching to see Frank trying to connect with his father – sometimes it doesn’t – the climactic scene where Frank is captured by FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) is overly dramatic; you almost expect Frank to yell “Top of the world, Ma!” As a fun movie, it tries too hard for pathos; as a serious movie, it’s too long.

But for the most part, it’s enjoyable, with great performances. DiCaprio is terrific, although you never buy him playing age 14, so it’s not as much of a shock as it could have been when people accept him as a pilot or a doctor. He’s great fun, melding Frank’s simultaneous confidence and shyness, and he does well with the emotional side, too. I’d suggest, though, that he needs a little more Tom Ripley – not in the sociopath sense, but in the sense of a desperate yearning to belong.

I enjoyed Tom Hanks, too, and Martin Sheen overcomes a regrettable Gone With the Wind accent to make you wish he had more screen time. Nathalie Baye and Christopher Walken are great; as Frank’s parents, they’re his ideal of life and love, his ultimate dream through all of his deceptions, and when you see the two of them dance, you understand why. Walken has a poignant role, an eternally optimistic loser, and he’s wonderful.

It’s refreshing to see that Steven Spielberg can hit his usual themes of child-parent connection in an unorthodox way and with so little sentimentality; “light touch” and “Spielberg” are rarely used in the same sentence.

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