Catch Me If You Can (2002) Review

https://youtu.be/s-7pyIxz8Qg?is=kuoFKq5C1oc6YGmq

THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.

We all want to live as safe as we can to live longer. But if that’s the only way you choose to live, then it won’t be so fun when it’s over.


PLOT


Based on the eponymous semi-autobiography co written by Stan Redding, Catch Me If You Can follows the secretive lifestyle of con artist Frank Abagnale Junior. Told in flashbacks, the story starts in 1963 where he first lived in New York with his parents, Frank Sr and Paula. In his youth, he learned his father’s conning techniques which only led to his tax problems forcing the IRS to move them into a smaller apartment. He actually practices it by pretending to be a teacher just to embarrass a bully of a classmate, and later teaching a girl how to make a believable fake doctor’s note to skip class. When he catches his mother cheating on his dad with a friend of the Rotary Club, Jack Barnes (James Brolin), resulting in his parents to divorce, he runs away and begins his own series of scams to survive on his own. After a series of confidence scams with his checkbook, he steps it up by posing as a Pan Am pilot, under the alias Frank Taylor, and forges payroll checks. He would treat his dad to a fancy lunch and buys him a car to express his gratitude to him. The forgeries go up to millions and it gets the attention of FBI agent Carl Hanratty. At one point, he does find him at a motel but Abagnale is able to fool him into thinking he’s a secret service agent, under the alias, Barry Allen. Carl wouldn’t realize the ruse until he gets away. Frank continues taking his forgery so far that he cons a high end call girl named Cheryl Ann (Jennifer Garner) and Hanratty would later realize he’s still underage due to the fact the name ‘Barry Allen’ comes from the comic book superhero ‘The Flash’. He even deduces him to be a New Yorker when he mentioned the Yankees after he called him apologizing for fooling him. Carl would contact Paula, now married to Barnes, and asks for a picture of him to confirm his identity. In Georgia does Frank take the identity of a doctor, Frank Conners, and falls in love with a nurse named Brenda Strong (Amy Adams). He even goes to New Orleans to get the blessing of her parents, Roger & Carol (Martin Sheen & Nancy Lenehan), to take her hand in marriage. This paves the way for him to be arranged for taking the Louisiana State Bar exam and pass. As the search continues, Carl meets Frank Sr who asks if he knows of his son’s whereabouts and ends up deducing where he is from the letters he kept as he denies it. Frank Jr would check in with his dad one last time of what’s going on and he invites him to his engagement party, disillusioned that he can get him and his mother back together. He actually considers to stop the con unless his dad asks him to do after he tells him Maura moved on, but he doesn’t ask since he knows he really won’t stop. Carl would track Abagnale down in the middle of his engagement party, but he escapes through a bedroom window and tells Brenda to rendezvous at Miami International Airport two days later. Sadly, he would have to resume his pilot identity when realizing she was followed, escorting to a flight in Madrid by having multiple women by his side posing as stewardesses/flight attendants. Carl would not officially apprehend him until ‘67 when finding him in Montrichard, convincing him to surrender with the assurance he’ll be extradited to the US. In ‘69, when being transferred back to the states does Carl tell Frank his father has died, broke his neck falling onto Grand Central Station steps. Heartbroken, he’d sneak out of a plane to see Maura, but would surrender for good after seeing her happy with Barnes and a daughter they have. Going through a 12 year sentence in maximum security, Carl would reach out to him again to recruit him in serve his remaining sentence working for the FBI’s Financial Crimes Unit after he helps deduce a bank teller has been committing fraud. He gets tedious of the office work and ends up having another go of his pilot identity, but Carl confronts him one last time, promising no one is chasing him this time and it’s his choice on how long he’ll keep it up, knowing he’ll come back since he’ll do a life sentence if caught. Only after a week does Frank return to the office and continues helping the FBI with his knowledge. Having asked before, Carl wonders how did he pass the bar exam, wondering if he cheated or not. Frank replies that he studied for two weeks before passing and leaves it up to him to believe it. As he continues giving input on another fraudulent check, the film ends in an epilogue that Frank would go on to be married with three kids and remain friends with Carl sharing his expertise to the FBI as a consultant on bank fraud & forgery.


THOUGHTS


If there is one thing cinema has proven, it’s that life of crime can be quite the exhilaration given the severity and this one is no exception. Writer Jeff Nathanson & Director Steven Spielberg are able to make something with a whole new form of exhilaration and keep it simultaneously exciting & heartwarming. You just know you’re gonna be hooked after an animated intro that starts the most ecstatic John Williams score of the 2000s. It just goes on par with the 60s aesthetic that has beautiful costume/production design given so much life by Janusz Kamiński’s cinematography & Michael Kahn’s editing. It does become hard to find the point out of this movie as we find out Frank Abagnale’s story was mostly a con from the novel he cowrote with Redding: He escaped from an airplane kitchen galley instead of a toilet, did not keep in touch with his parents when he ran away, was not an only child in advance, was not on FBI’s most wanted list despite the longevity of his crimes, dated a flight attendant but never proposed to a nurse, nor is there proof of him passing the bar exam in either one of his aliases. So apart from finding rehabilitation in the FBI, conning an escort was hilariously the most accurate part. If the whole point was for him to con the world of his adventures, then maybe this was his way to say no amount of deception can keep you away from your problems and genuine connection is what saves you from becoming hollow. Leonardo DiCaprio captures this amazingly in his portrayal of Frank Jr because in behind all the charisma and confidence he embraces when on the run, he’s heartbroken that the world he thought he knew was long gone and he can’t fix it no matter how hard he tries. My parents separated around the time this movie came out, which made me relate to his heartbreak because I wish I can fix something that is beyond comprehension of fixing. I’m pretty sure he had nothing against his mom as depicted, but it does seem clear Nathalie Bauer portrayed Maura in a way where she wasn’t considerate enough to admit her actions affected her son. Every son looks up to their dad that they can do wrong and that’s how Jr saw Sr with the time they had. Although they didn’t keep touch when the former ran away, each scene between represents all the lost time you want to keep before it’s too late which is exactly how the real life Abagnale felt on his end. Earning a Supporting Actor Oscar nomination, Christopher Walken succeeds in stealing our hearts as Frank Sr because the inspiration is quite visible. He never had much to give, but what was given was the best advice to challenge himself in every situation and he sure did so in the life he chose. Knowing his dad died before he can say goodbye is a universal moment to feel heartbreak because that to him is a bigger robbery than all the money he forged. Losing someone you love does bring people to a state of mind to appreciate what’s left of their own lives and ironically, Frank learned this from the one who was on his tail the most. Inspired by real life special agent Joseph Shea, Tom Hanks is incredible as Carl Hanratty because I think he does relate to Frank in terms of being dedicated but uses that mindset for a greater purpose rather than stooping to the life of crime. He’s used his career as an escape to cope with his divorce and that grief simultaneously gives him motivation to succeed. He doesn’t have anything against Frank even though chasing him was stressful, but he chose to take him under his wing because he sees he can make a better difference when guided to it. He never tells Frank of his marital problems until after because he doesn’t want him to use it against him and teach him grief is no excuse to make mistakes. It doesn’t even matter if he believes Frank’s answer about how he passed the bar because what he gets from it is the fact he’s willing to give an answer proves how unpredictable he’ll always be to him. In conclusion, Catch Me If You Can is one of the most fascinating movies ever made for being able to spark a whole new excitement you seek in every form of storytelling. If that’s the kind of story you seek, see this now.