A seasoned FBI agent pursues Frank Abagnale Jr. who, before his 19th birthday, successfully forged millions of dollars' worth of checks while posing as a Pan Am pilot, a doctor, and a legal prosecutor.
Based on the true story of Jordan Belfort, from his rise to a wealthy stock-broker living the high life to his fall involving crime, corruption and the federal government.
Director:
Martin Scorsese
Stars:
Leonardo DiCaprio,
Jonah Hill,
Margot Robbie
In Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.
New Rochelle, the 1960s. High schooler Frank Abagnale Jr. idolizes his father, who's in trouble with the IRS. When his parents separate, Frank runs away to Manhattan with $25 in his checking account, vowing to regain dad's losses and get his parents back together. Just a few years later, the FBI tracks him down in France; he's extradited, tried, and jailed for passing more than $4,000,000 in bad checks. Along the way, he's posed as a Pan Am pilot, a pediatrician, and an attorney. And, from nearly the beginning of this life of crime, he's been pursued by a dour FBI agent, Carl Hanratty. What starts as cat and mouse becomes something akin to father and son.Written by
<jhailey@hotmail.com>
Frank didn't go to flight school...Frank didn't go to medical school...Frank didn't go to law school...because Frank's still in high school! See more »
The film shows Frank Abagnale, Jr. on the FBI's Most Wanted list. In real life, however, he never made the list - it's reserved for violent criminals. See more »
Goofs
The four-color Heidelberg Press is a complex press that requires lengthy training to use well. The checks Frank is producing require advanced press skills. Assuming Frank Abagnale is a bright individual, it's possible he could have acquired the skills necessary to operate the press. But given the difficultly of operating the press to produce the checks he's printing, it's unlikely that the owners of such a press would give a neophyte operator unlimited access to it, especially without their supervision. See more »
Quotes
Roger Strong:
Frank, would you like to say grace?
[Long pause]
Roger Strong:
Unless you're not comfortable.
Frank Abagnale, Jr.:
Absolutely. Two little mice fell into a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned, but the second mouse, he struggled so hard that he eventually churned that cream into butter and he walked out. Amen.
[All say: Amen]
Carol Strong:
Oh, that was beautiful. The mouse, he churned that cream into butter.
See more »
Crazy Credits
During the first thirty seconds of the credits we hear the FBI typewriters. See more »
Alternate Versions
In the French language version of the film, Frank teaches his high school Spanish class instead of French. See more »
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002) **** Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, James Brolin, Frank John Hughes, Brian Howe, John Finn, Jennifer Garner. DiCaprio gives a grandly charming performance as Frank Abagnale, Jr. a teenager who adopted the professional guises of airplane pilot, physician and lawyer to front his check kiting schematic modus operandi during the 1960s and eventually making the FBI's most wanted list by bilking millions until his capture and imprisonment. Based on Abagnale's best-selling memoir and adapted with lean storytelling by Jeff Nathanson, the film never lets up in the giddy cat-and-mouse/Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote relationship between fugitive DiCaprio and amalgamated FBI square Hanks (replete with thick as clam chowder Boston accent, dorky specs and porkpie hat) one step behind his two-steps ahead prey and a unique dynamic of a father/son esthetic. Walken gives an Oscar worthy supporting turn as the elder Abagnale whose financial woes and tanglement with the IRS acts as his son's catalyst. Once again filmmaker Steven Spielberg makes popular entertainment into a work of art.
47 of 62 people found this review helpful.
Was this review helpful to you?
| Report this
CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (2002) **** Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, James Brolin, Frank John Hughes, Brian Howe, John Finn, Jennifer Garner. DiCaprio gives a grandly charming performance as Frank Abagnale, Jr. a teenager who adopted the professional guises of airplane pilot, physician and lawyer to front his check kiting schematic modus operandi during the 1960s and eventually making the FBI's most wanted list by bilking millions until his capture and imprisonment. Based on Abagnale's best-selling memoir and adapted with lean storytelling by Jeff Nathanson, the film never lets up in the giddy cat-and-mouse/Road Runner/Wile E. Coyote relationship between fugitive DiCaprio and amalgamated FBI square Hanks (replete with thick as clam chowder Boston accent, dorky specs and porkpie hat) one step behind his two-steps ahead prey and a unique dynamic of a father/son esthetic. Walken gives an Oscar worthy supporting turn as the elder Abagnale whose financial woes and tanglement with the IRS acts as his son's catalyst. Once again filmmaker Steven Spielberg makes popular entertainment into a work of art.