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Visitors Review

stevenpb 2012-05-19 18:56:29

Brilliant entertaining cinema

Brilliant piece of cinema and wonderfully entertaining story. Many otherIMDB users have already commented on the excellence of the acting, but Iwould like to applaud the production team - Mr. Spielberg and hisDP/Editing/Music/Casting team is, I feel, the best in the business at themoment, and this movie demonstrates their mastery of the medium (andshouldmake this movie a must see for film students). Also, thank you to thescreenwriter(s) for a sophisticated and engaging story.

Humberto Vergara 2012-05-19 11:21:54

Intriguing, perceptive, touching, and funny!

The wintermester of award winning films has finally arrived and I'mthankfulfor that. Having a chance to watch Catch Me If You Can ten days beforeitsworldwide release was both rewarding and worthwhile. Steven Spielberghasperceptively created a true story, a period piece full of life, acolorfullycaptured era, a touching story of broken bonds between parent and child(especially that special relationship between father and son), an amusingchase of cat and mouse, and alas a trip that was so unpredictable andintriguing it makes you stare in awe and wonder. Leonardo DiCaprio starsasFrank Abagnale Jr., a young teenager who lives with his parents(ChristopherWalken) circa 1960s and is adjusting to his families financial downfallafter his father loses his former job and consequently his parent'sdivorce.After his father opens a bank account for him, Frank runs away from hometopursue a fake life of fraud checks and fraud identities. He pretends tobea co-pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, steals millions of dollars in theprocess, and falls in and out of romantic escapades. Meanwhile, FBIdetective Carl (Tom Hanks) is hard on track behind Frank's manyadventurousschemes trying to catch him.While the movie keeps you at the edge of your seat with its humor andfastpaced entertainment, it also manages to be touching with one of its mostimportant themes being the father son relationship. Frank Sr. (Walken)teaches his son Frank Jr. (DiCaprio) that "there are two mice who fallintoa bowl of cream, one mice quickly gives up trying to get out, the secondmice keeps struggling, continues and never gives up until he manages togetout by turning the cream into butter." This is Frank Sr. biggest lessontohis son. But Frank Sr. is convinced that his son is not a criminal andhewon't turn him in to the police simply because he is his son. Frankloveshis son too much and the only way that his son knows to repay his love isbybuying his father a new Cadillac and offering him some money. It'sinteresting how Frank Jr. thinks that his parent's divorce and thedestruction of his family is caused by the lack of money, which isexactlywhat causes him to pursue exactly that: money. He wanted to save hisfamilyor at least make sure that his never suffered because of lack of money.Themusic by John Williams is giddy, fast, and bouncy which reflects thesneakyendeavors of Leo's often weasel of a character. DiCaprio, Walken, Sheen,and Hanks all bring a knockout showcase, even though Hanks' southernaccentis often annoying. Many of the scenes take place around or on Christmasdaywhich make the movie sort of a holiday treat. I will not reveal theendingwhich ends kind of abruptly. I must admit that it did left me wanting tosee more of the relationship that flourishes between Hanks and DiCaprio.But I was thoroughly entertained. This is a sure thought-provoker and amust-see for the holidays, especially anyone who admires its cast andcrew.(9/10)

2012-05-10 02:16:05

Catch it if you can

This movie was well worth the price of admission.The opening credits were actually interesting to watch. Reminded me ofsomeof the opening credits of some late 60's early 70's movies.If you just watch the movie and don't get hung up on thinking about whatthis guy's actions did to the lives of the people involved you are in forsome good entertainment.Being based on a true story you have to wonder just how much of it is thetruth. Some of the things were pretty unbelievable. Was the FBI reallythatunsophisticated back then? Maybe check fraud was just not a very highpriority.The late 60's period also made the film very fun to watch. There were noexplosions or graphic language(maybe a word or two here and there). Justanenjoyable movie that I would probably pay to see again.

paul_supercala 2012-05-09 21:09:58

"… the most enjoyable and fun film this holiday season."

Spielberg has done it again. Somehow he's managed to bring us his second hitthis year just in time for Christmas and what a cinematic present this is!Inspired by a true story, it's almost hard to believe that the events in themovie actually happened. With the combination of a truly amazing tale andSpielberg and Co.'s magic Hollywood touch, this semi-nostalgic piece remindsus just how different things have become since the 60s. It's definitely hismost lighthearted film to date, and for sure the most enjoyable and fun filmthis holiday season. Leonardo DiCaprio recovers within a week of his dreadful miscastperformance in Gangs of New York with an inspired and seemingly youthfulturn as the boy genius Frank Abagnale, Jr. His boyish charm and onscreenradiance are remarkable and really night-and-day compared to theaforementioned disaster. He brings back the elements of performance thatmade him so likeable and seem so promising in the first place. He's notalone, though. Tom Hanks gives a similar charming, if not deadpanperformance as the uptight FBI agent after Abagnale. His New England accentis right on the nose and his now-plump figure give way to a new era for amore mature Hanks. This is a great turn after his well done but pricklycharacter he played earlier this year in Road to Perdition. Also notable isthe great Christopher Walken, who gives one of his best performances inyears as Abagnale, Sr. All in all, Spielberg, DiCaprio, Hanks, and Walkenreally remind us in this film why we like them so much in the firstplace. Despite it's 2 hour and 20 minute running time, it breezes by as you findyourself lost in the colorful cinematography, the fantastic sets, impeccablecostumes, and lovable characters. Even with all of the character flaws thateach seems to display, though, each of them seem to have a warmth andvulnerability that's easy to identify with. The playful cat-and-mouse gamethat Hanks and DiCaprio are caught up in is obviously one that could nothappen these days and really seems impossible in the first place, but that'spart of the appeal. It's cinematic escapism, folks, and it couldn't havecome at a better time. This is definitely one to catch in the theaters.

kcligon 2012-05-01 01:15:43

Storytelling at its best, sharp, imaginative, authentic film

What a pleasure it is to witness Leonardo DiCaprio's tour-de-forceperformance in this perfect gem of a film. Spielberg and his top-flight teamhave created a delightful reconstruction of the era and Abagnale's bizarrecruise through it, making use of a stylized humor while maintaining afaithfulness to the period's look, feel, manner of speech and mostespecially, the music. Tremendous fun.

2012-04-30 19:58:55

Exceeded my expectations.

I'm not a fan of Steven Spielberg. About L. DiCaprio, well some of his movies are among my most hated (particularly Titanic, of course), yet I can't hate him as an actor because there are some others that I have enjoyed (ex. Marvin's Room). About this one, I must say that I ejoyed it from the opening credits (they are so good that a special prize called "Best Opening Credits" should have been created specially for this occasion) until the end. What I like about this movie is that it shows an interesting story (adaptation of a true story) without being too pretentious (which is one of the main problems I find in Spielberg - ex. Artificial Intelligence) or too sentimental; and mainly, because Spielberg uses no aliens, monsters, dinosours or sharks. Well, I'm not telling much about the movie, but I'll say that eventhough this movie won't change film history, it made me feel so good about it as to give it five stars (yeah, why less?). In my opinion it is DiCaprio's and Spielberg's best.

2012-04-27 11:29:24

Pure Entertainment

Even with a bit of fudging on the true story (and some moral qualms about the whole thing), this is an entertaining feature that will keep you interested throughout. Great performances from Hanks and DiCaprio plus a top-notch appearance by Walken bring it all together. Spielberg is at the top of his game on this one!

mrpanitz 2012-04-26 21:50:22

Thought this movie was cute/neat

I thought this was a nice movie no real violence -(youseeenough of that in a lot of movies)I also got a laughfrom just the titles -you see these little figureschasing others..and it was funny how Frank (Di capo) alwasy calledFBI agent on Chistmas eve.. I also figure it wasan inside joke this movie incidently was releaseon Chistmass eve! the only thing missing as it starts out withFrank going on game called to Tell the truth and they startplaying the game.. it would be nice to find outin the end who the Reall Frank was.was he number 1, number 2 or Number 3?so if you want nice non violent movie go see it!

Kristine 2012-04-24 00:47:36

A great game of cat and mouse

I was pretty surprised by "Catch Me If You Can". To tell the truth, Ithought it was going to be pretty boring. But it was was really interesting.I loved Tom Hanks, he was so amazing in his role. He really took charge. AndI was impressed with Leonardo's performance. I actually believed him asFrank. But I think any actor can be pushed to his or her limits, when putwith the right director. And whom better than: MR. STEVENSPEILBERG!The movie in itself is wonderful. The cast is brilliant, and the story isamazing. I would recommend this to anyone. 8/10

Thomas Jolliffe 2012-04-23 08:56:30

Another top class offering from Steve!

Another fantastic movie from Steven Spielberg. While I think this is notquite as good as Minority Report, it is more light hearted and simplisticentertainment, a film you can really watch anytime. As with all Spielberg films, his storytelling is wonderful as is his cast.In this film, amongst others, we have Leonardo Di Caprio, Tom Hanks andChristopher Walken. This makes for great watching, and the story itself isamazing, because it sounds so implausible yet it happened in real life.Frank Abagnale Jr went around the whole of the USA and parts of Europeconning people and cashing in millions in fraudulant cheques. The materialon paper looks like it would have difficulty sustaining a two and a halfhour movie but truth be told there are no such troubles, with Spielbergbehind camera and the grade A cast all on top form it's simply engrossingand movie making magic.Overall this rates as probably the best film so far of 2003. Its not quite aclassic but still is a great piece of entertainment. ****

jotix100 2012-04-21 15:42:32

Witty con man.

From the opening credits design we get in the mood of this very entertainingfilm. They create the tone for what will follow. Steven Spielberg is in rareform directing this movie that doesn't have a dull moment.Mr. Spielberg has found a perfect actor to fill the shoes of the con manwith the perfect casting of Leonardo DiCaprio. It's very easy to see why allthe women fall prey of this charmer. He was a fast talker and a slickoperator. He exudes charisma to fill another couple of movies.It's a welcome sight to have Mr. DiCaprio working in a vehicle that showshis talent as Frank Abagnale, a man of many faces. He plays a game ofhide-and-seek throughout the movie with Hanratty, the FBI agent that is inhis trail. Tom Hanks shows great assurance and gusto with this character. Ofcourse, the DiCaprio magnetism dominates the action with the many ironictwists and the miraculous and narrow escapes he pulls with an aplomb that'sbewildering to the Feds, who are on his tail all the time.The minor roles are equally important. Christopher Walken as the fatherstarts out as the prototype of the con man, but he's too decent to do wrong;his business fails eventually. His marriage to Natalie Baye, the fine Frenchactress, ends in divorce because obviously she hates being married to aloser.The action doesn't stop for one moment. This film is great fun to watch withthe winning combination Mr. Spielberg assured hand gives us this time out.Mr. Spielberg can thank the genial Mr. DiCaprio who responds obviously tohis direction and makes this con man endearing even when he is committingcrimes.

jmsj 2012-04-21 06:44:11

good movie

this was a good movie, well acted, and thankfully not 'over the top'. thestory moved along very well.sure, there wasn't really a HUGE climatic point in the movie, but it surekept my interest from the opening animated credits (with the cat & mousetype music) all the way to the end. i'm not really interested inaltogetherhow abagnale pulled it all off, but rather that he just did is amazinggiventhat it was only a little less than 40 years ago. whether or not hank'scharacter or walken's characters in the movie were accurately portrayed, ienjoyed their characters very much. ...as said in my first sentence: notover the top, to me, which is WAY more realistic than any thing else.hankswas an fbi agent doing his job, nothing more. yes, i'm guessing here, buti'm sure there are numerous amounts of fbi agents with the same low keypersona that hanks portrayed. oh, i especially enjoyed the relationshiphanks and LdC developed in the movie--kudo's to spielberg on this movie and john williams for an enjoyable strayfrom his other movie music.~janet

Rayxtreme 2012-04-19 19:34:18

Awesome Movie!

Ok, let me start off by saying great job spielberg, great awesome moviewhichis based on a true story and lead actor "Leonardo Dicaprio" which playedanamazing job as well as "Tom Hanks" i enjoyed this movie all the way totheend. The score by John Williams is again an amazing piece of work, iratedthis movie a big 8....good job

2012-04-19 05:32:52

Leo CAN act!!!!

After Titanic came out, I lost all respect for Leonardo DiCaprio. Don't get me wrong, I like that movie, but I had high hopes for him as an actor, and I thought he was horrible in Titanic, and I don't even want to talk about "The Beach". Plus the way he acted in public turned me off even more. One thing I can't stand is spoiled brat celebrities. The ONLY reasons I wanted to see this was for Tom Hanks (I've been a fan of him since Bosom Buddies), and the story itself intrigued me. What I realized as I was watching this, is that Leo seems to have grown up, and that he can act again!!! As for the movie itself, it's wonderful. It's funny, but you don't get the sense that they are glorifying Mr. Abagnale's life of crime either, which is good. Even my husband enjoyed this movie, and he hates Leo DiCaprio even worse than I do (or did). He also doesn't normally like "true story" movies. But this was a great film, and I highly recommend it to anyone who likes a good "cops and robbers" caper.

jsufee-2 2012-04-16 19:51:14

Not worth your money

Were very disappointed with this movie, and we want our moneyback.Except for few laughs here and Steven and Tom's partnership should end NOWjust like it should of ended after the lousy band of brothers.Wait for the video to come out. Go see LOTR II or GONY.another disappointing movie this year.

2012-04-16 05:27:54

fun

this movie had some very memorable scenes and the scene where frank pretends to be his high school french teacher has multiple memorable moments. christopher walken and leonardo have a very unique acting exchange in this movie. they work well together, it seems.

2012-04-16 06:36:37

Catch Me If You Can

I liked the movie it was interesting to see the book portrayed in film. I actually like leo in his role in this movie he may actually be taken on film roles I will like him in. If you like the movie you may want to read the book it was much better and goes into alot of detail. If you do read it you will soon see that the movie took alot of liberities.

direkt24 2012-04-15 17:05:37

These characters are very lonely (SPOILERS INSIDE)

This movie is much darker than it seems to be on the outside.(SPOILERSAHEAD)!!Christopher Walken I think steals the show in his very limited role ,allthough Tom Hanks and Leo do their parts convincingly.We see Frank'sparents at the beginning at their home dancing and looking very much inloveand happy, but things turn very quickly when Frank's mother starts to getinvolved with another man who was supposed to be a friend of the family (can't trust anybody).Anyway Frank's parents are forced to divorce andLeonardo Di Caprios character Frank is forced to decide whether he wantstostay with his mom or dad by a simple check of a box onpaper.Totally devastated by what is going on at home Frank decides to take theblank checks Frank's father gave to him and leave home on a life changingescapade of false identity and a search for meaning in his life.At certainparts I thought were very sad especially ,where Frank and his Dad meet upatcertain points throughout the film to talk about Frank's false success inlife.Christopher walken and Leo shine during these parts more than anyotherparts of the film.Frank still thinks material items will get his Mom anddadback together and that's just not how life works.The main reason imo Frankgoes on this venture is to try and find a way for his parents to get backtogether through his material success through his false identities, Butoncereality hits and Frank finds out his Mom is remarried his whole worldcrashes once again and he wants out of this adventure , which is shown atthe bar scene where he calls carl in an attempt to end this fiasco, youreally see that Dicaprio's character is still just a young 17 year old kidat this part, very good acting here.We also find out throughout the film that Carl (Hanks character)is also avery lonely person ,he is a divorced man who hasn't seen his daughterGracetoo much since the split and is also looking for a meaning to hislife.Carland Frank sort of build a subliminal bond throughout the film which comestogether at the end.We see Frank towards the very end looking to run away from his problemsagain but once he finds out nobody is chasing him any more the game isoverand decides to live a normal life.It's at this point again that the movieisvery subliminally sad , Frank and Carl though not verbally mentioning ittoeach other actually look at each other and know that they have built sortofa father son relationship through this crazy ordeal and decide to becomefriends.Again a much darker film than perceived at first about loss and wantingthings back to normal no matter what.Some holes but not enough to renderthefilm , definitely worth a watch.

MLDinTN 2012-04-15 01:29:07

Everyone should definitely catch this

This has got to be one of the best movies of the year. It was veryentertaining and had some really funny scenes. This movie was so good; Ithink I will read the book now. I'm sure the movie left out some of thescams Frank pulled. The acting was solid, but I'm not sure if TH or LDdeserve any awards for it. And normally, when a big star uses a funnyaccent, I hate it, but TH makes it work here. I also liked the musicaltheme used. It worked well when it was used during scenes where TH is hoton the trail of LD. One thing I didn't like was the older Leo because thehair piece he wore looked awful. It was so fake looking; it looked like adead animal on his head. (SPOILERS): My 3 favorite scenes were: 1)at the Miami airport when theypull the guy dressed like a pilot out of the car and he shows the sign ofwho he is supposed to pick up "Hanratty" 2)when Leo makes $400 from thehooker by giving her a fake $1400 check. 3)when Leo is at the hospital inthe ER, asking the other residents if they concur. He runs out of the roomand one resident is like, "I should have concurred."There were other great parts. I'd like to read the book to see if itexplains exactly how he escaped from a bathroom on an airplane. And, Iwould like to know if he really bought a pilot suit and was going to starthis scam again after getting out of jail and working for the FBI or if thatwas just embelished for the movie. (END OF SPOILERS)Who says crime doesn't pay! The real Frank still works for the FBI andmakes a lot of money.FINAL VERDICT: What's not to love about this true life story! I can'trecommend this enough. Go out and see it.

Pro_Surfer_14 2012-04-14 11:59:00

Australia

As I will say again STEVEN SPIELBERG is film making GENIUS!!!!!!! Hisuse of LIGHT in all of his films are mood swingers and tradesmarkes. Iadore his photography and brilliant directing in all his movies. InCatch me if you Can he gets a brilliant ensemble cast to for fill thismovie eg: TOM HANKS (AGAIN), LEONARDO DICAPRIO and many more... Ibelieve anything script he reads, he reads 100 times before signing onfor the project, he checks it for errors and mistakes and also writeshis own little comments on the scripts. That is why every film he doesis 100% perfect.. As you will notice he uses Tom Hanks in most of hismovies, and that my friends is a very good move, because Tom is one ofthe best actors around and brings passion to all of his films. Thebasic plot in this movie is about a traumatized teenager (LEONARDO)going through his parents break up. So he goes on the run as a 'CON'and lives the high life for a while, until Tom Hanks Comes Along..CATCH ME IF YOU CAN IS A SOPHISTICATED TRUE STORY BY THE FILM GENIUS"STEVEN SPIELBERG".....10/10 PAUL