Catch Me If You Can
Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks star in a highly enjoyable and fun chase movie involving bad checks, deceptions, and women along the way. DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale, Jr., a high school kid whose just found out his parents were getting divorced after his mother was caught cheating on her husband, played by Christopher Walken, with the Rotary Club President. But Frank won't accept this new turn in life and instead runs away. After failed attempts to get some money, he notices how well-liked and adored pilots are and soon turns into one with a little research. Soon, he is living the high life, traveling around the country, and eventually the world, and making checks that are such good copies that the banks can't tell they're fake until it's too late. Hot on his trail is Carl Hanratty (Hanks) from the FBI. He always seems to be one step behind but like he says in the film, the house always wins and in the end, he does.

The movie is told in flashback mode, so you know right from the beginning that Frank is going to get caught. It's just a question of how and when. The ways he alludes the federal agents is just a riot to see, both in its ingenuity and the fact that a group of trained agents can't catch a high school aged boy. Though with a length of 140 minutes, some of it gets a little repetitive and storylines are cut one after another. It would have been nice to see what happened to some people in the film or events that occured, but the editing done by Steven Spielberg's team keeps things moving along at a lively pace, leaving us to enjoy the authentic-looking 60s world created by Spielberg and the events that kept Frank out of jail for 6 years. 3.5 stars