Catch Me if You Can by Steven Spielberg is about a young man who was a brilliant master of deception. It is based on the real life exploits of Frank Abagnale, Jr. who successfully passed himself off as a teacher, a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer all before he reached his 21st birthday! He did this in the late 1960's.

Frank Abagnale, Jr. used disguise and deception to get away with his antics. He passed off bad checks to finance his expensive life by targeting drone like people. He stole the bulk of the money from corporations.

Masterful performances by both Leonardo Dicaprio as Frank Abagnale, Jr. and Tom Hanks as his pursuer make this an enormously entertaining and light hearted movie that tickles the funny bone.

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Just one word...AMAZING.With very good acting from Tom Hanks and Leonardo DiCaprio as always. Frank Abagnale Jr.(DiCaprio) is a young con man living in America in the 1960's, who steal's over $1,000,000 from the goverment, on his trail is veteran FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Hanks) willing to go to any lengths to bring Abagnale to justice. Steven Speilberg did a great job with this film. Good Job!

Leonardo Di Caprio (Gangs of New York) stars as Frank Abagnale Jr, a young man who runs away from home and successfully becomes a con artist, getting involved in different professions whilst FBI agent Carl Hanratty tries to track him down.

Based on true events, this crime drama shows the extraordinary events of Frank Abagnale as he travels around forging cheques and becoming a teacher, a lawyer and a doctor and it is all quite remarkable that all these events really took place and is watching just for that fact.

Di Caprio is again on top form as Abagnale and does well to become accustomed to the significant central role and portrays the con artist as sophisticated, intelligent and interesting to watch and his reactions and quick witted dialogue make the character a joy to observe. The charm behind the character is very good and is also quite funny, giving the plot and the protagonist depth and an emotion we can identify with.

Tom Hanks (Cast away) is equally impressive as Carl Hanratty, the FBI agent who is trying to track Abagnale down. Sensitive and intelligent, Hanratty has a massive task on his hand to catch the con artist, and the film justifies the crime and thriller genre by anchoring a strong meaning between the two protagonists. I personally would have liked to see more of Hanratty in the film, given the character more depth but the fact that we just see the professional side of the agent gives him strong realism and a less clich??d approach.

The plot and the dialogue are excellent, very consistent. The film does take a while to get going and the use of flashbacks and jumping through time can get a bit messy but otherwise it is a sharply written crime drama with two great characters, not to mention Christopher Walken who was Oscar nominated for the portrayal of Abagnale's father and is one of the best true stories ever written for the big screen.

8/10

Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) had an easy life in New York during the 1960's. He was the only child of his parents and his father (Christopher Walkin) made a decently living from owning a store.

All that came crashing down around him when the IRS came calling demanding more money. As things got more and more dire, his mother (Nathalie Baye) filed for divorce. Suddenly forced to choose between his two parents, Frank took off instead with the clothes on his back and a checkbook with a balance of $25.

Even though Frank was only 16 at the time, he was also brilliant. He quickly figured out how to cash checks for more then he had. That led to forging checks, which led to taking jobs as a pilot, a lawyer and a doctor, all without even a high school diploma.

But things weren't all fun and games. FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) was on his tale. Can Carl catch Frank?

The movie starts out rather slowly. Watching Frank begin his life of crime is only interesting for a little while, but it takes much longer then it should.

Once Carl really gets into the picture and the two start their cat and mouse games the tension really picks up. And it is hard to know who to root for, Frank to get away or Carl to capture him. The two actors do a great job of making their characters real and sympathetic.

The movie is based on a true story. Since this is Hollywood, that means take with a shaker of salt. But it is still interesting to think of a teen really being able to pull this off. Naturally, with the advent of computer banking and added security, he'd have to work much harder to even think of pulling all this off today.

This movie starts as a slow character study but builds into a chase movie with heart. It's not a movie to rush out and watch, but if you are interested, give it a whirl. Odds are you'll be entertained.

Myself and my wife thoroughly enjoyed this film.It's fair to say the first 15mins are a little confusing with the story flicking from the present day to the past and then back again.The acting is superb with the film containing tension and humour with an unexpected ending.Buy and enjoy.