Rating: 
Summary: Good movie, bad switch!
Review: This movie is good, although it has very few connections with the book by Frank Abagnale. I highly enjoyed the book, but I didn't think the movie was very impressive. I think the directors missed the full potential of the movie.
Rating:
Summary: I couldn't get engaged with the character, or really care
Review: It really happened in the early 1960s when a teenager posed as an airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer. He also passed more than a million dollars in bad checks. All of this happened before his 19th birthday. He spent time in jail and now makes his living as an adviser to the FBI. This 2002 film is his story.Christopher Walken stars as the boy's father, who has a financial setback. Not only does he owe a fortune to the IRS, but he also loses his wife to divorce. This affects the boy - so much so that it causes his crime spree. It's all very exciting for a while. Then he is eventually caught. Leonardo Di Caprio is just not a good actor. No matter what role he plays, he's like a little kid showing off. I just couldn't get engaged with his character or really care. Christopher Walken, however, made me feel the upset of his situation as we see him change from a self-confident business executive into a beaten man. Tom Hanks stars as the FBI agent chasing Di Caprio. It's a rather small part and his talent is wasted. The film is 141 minutes - much too long. I fell asleep through part of it and when I woke up, nothing much had changed.
Rating: 
Summary: A MOVIE THAT WILL SURELY CATCH YOU.
Review: If you want to relax for 2 hours and a half, "Catch Me If You Can" is a good choice. The movie has a fast rhythm, funny jokes, good performances, nice music and comical situations, so you should have a good time with this one. Loosely based in the autobiographical novel by Frank Abagnale, the movie follows the steps of young Frank (Leonardo DiCaprio), a nice guy with great abilities to passing himself as an older man. When his parents inform him that they will not be together anymore, Frank escapes from home. So now he is alone and with very few money, so now he starts to passing himself off as an airline pilot, a doctor, and an attorney. Along the way, Frank learns how to become a master forger, and uses his talent and charm to pass over 2.5 million dollars in phony checks. When the FBI notices this, an agent is designed to chase Frank, that man is Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), so now the chase has begun. "Catch Me If You Can" is a very funny movie, perhaps the ending is not very convincing, but most of the segments are amusing. The music is just great, the costumes and the little details are perfect, so what else can you ask, the movie is pure entertainment. The DVD extras are also very amusing; the behind the cameras features are very informative, the interviews contribute to understand better the process that was followed to complete the film, so a good movie and good DVD extras make "Catch Me If You Can" a good choice.
Rating: 
Summary: Reality vs Fiction
Review: I heard Frank Abagnale speak in Tucson, AZ at a convention I recently attended.
He described his acts in an almost bravado fashion, but was frank about what gave him his drive and desire to beat the system.
His parents became divorced when he was 16 years old and the judge gave him the option of which parent he would like to live with. At that point he ran from the courtroom and embarked on his life of crime. He never saw his father again as he died shortly thereafter.
Rating:
Summary: My Review
Review: I really loved the book and the movie totally did it justice. Leonardo DiCaprio is awesome and so was Tom Hanks. I bought this movie so of course its good.
Rating:
Summary: Catch It If You Can
Review: I love the title sequence of CATCH ME IF YOU CAN (by Kuntzel + Deygas). The zippy graphics and John Williams score set the scene for what is to come: a stylish chase movie. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale Jr., who, in real life, masqueraded as a pilot, lawyer, and swindled millions. Tom Hanks is Carl Hanratty (what a name!), the FBI agent who chased Abagnale. As directed by Steven Spielberg, CMIYC is a very entertaining film. It's well paced, funny, and moving at times. My one complaint about the DVD is that Janusz Kaminski's cinematography gets mucked up in the transfer to digital. On my widescreen digital TV and proscan DVD player, there are some digital problems in low light scenes with streams of light in the background. You can see digital artifacts floating in the light beams, which ends up looking like a STAR TREK transporter effect! Otherwise, the disc (especially the sound mix) is a treat. I missed CMIYC in the theaters. I'm glad I finally 'caught it' on DVD.
Rating:
Summary: excellent movie with great performances
Review: A Film by Steven Spielberg Catch Me If You Can is based on the 1980 memoir by Frank Abagnale. We are told at the very beginning that this movie is inspired by the book, which means that there are changes in both the events of the book as well as the characters. All this means is that the filmmakers chose to tell a slightly different story than was Abagnale presented in the book. It doesn't make the movie any less truthful. This is the story of con man Frank Abagnale, Jr (Leonardo DiCaprio). The movie starts with Abagnale in a French prison and being released into the custody of FBI Agent Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks). Throughout the film we switch back between Abagnale conning and running from the law to Abagnale and Hanratty talking on the plane. It offers a nice change of pace as well as a continued questioning of how Abagnale got caught. We flash back to Abagnale before he leaves home. He is devoted to his father (Christopher Walken), and is deeply hurt by the divorce and the court requirement that he make the choice of which parent he wants to live with. Instead, Abagnale chooses neither and runs away to New York City. Thus begins his life of the con (though there is a suggestion that he had been doing some check/credit card conning before he runs away). Surprisingly, the movie strays from focusing on Frank Abagnale himself but spends just as much (or more) time on Carl Hanratty and the hunt to catch Abagnale. Hanratty is a somewhat geeky FBI Agent. He is very serious and very devoted to his job of catching check frauds like Abagnale. He is good at his job, but Abagnale leads Hanratty on a long chase over most of the country (and the world) before ending in France. The film shows as Hanratty discovers more clues as to where Abagnale is, but never quite manages to catch up to him. There is the yearly Christmas Eve phone call from Abagnale to Hanratty (because both end up alone on Christmas). We do get to see some of the cons that Frank Abagnale pulls off, but we never quite see his preparation or learn the reason why Abagnale is conning. It takes something away from an otherwise excellent movie. I would recommend this movie as I thought it was quite good, but if I had to choose between Abagnale's book and the movie, I would take the book any day of the week.
Rating:
Summary: Movies don't get better than this!
Review: Catch Me If You Can is a movie you can't forget. The movie follows the life of Frank W.Abagnale Jr. from 1963 to 1974. It starts at Christmas of 1963, Frank is a 15 year-old kid who lives with his mom and dad who are happily married, but things changes when his father goes out of business because his company is under investigation by the governement. The family goes to live in an apartment in a poor neighborhood. Frank changes school and when he arrives at his new school, he passes himself as the teacher. Then his mother, who is having an affair with a friend of her husband, decides to divorce. The lawyer ask Frank to choose if he is going to live with his mother or his father. He decides to run away with his check book that his father gave to him for his 16th birthday. When he gots nothing left in his account, he starts giving bad checks. Then, he sees a pilot on the street and it gives him the idea to become a pilot. He starts by going to Panam and pretend to be a kid making a report for his school paper. He gets information on how to become a pilot and the identification he needs. Then, he calls to the company and says that he lost his suit on the plane and asks where he can get another one. He gets his suit and the guy only ask him for his Pilot number, so he gots the suit and he starts cashing checks around the USA in different banks. Meanwhile, F.B.I. Investigator Carl Henratty is on the trail of Frank, so Frank changes his name and profession, He meets a girl he likes and ask her to marry him, she accepts and he becomes a lawyer working for her father. But, he made a mistake because he can no longer change his name if he is married, because she would not stay married to a crook. So, Frank goes to Europe and spends a couple of years there before being caught around Christmas of 1967. Then, he goes to jail in France for 2 years and goes back to the United States around Christmas of 1969. He is sentenced to 12 years in jail and stays friend with Carl Henratty who while visiting Frank in 1970, discovers that Frank could work for the F.B.I. Finally, in 1974, Carl convinces the F.B.I. to release Frank from jail and make him work for the governement for the rest of his sentence. Since then, Frank has been paid millions of dollars from the governement for having captured some the best crooks in the world and he designed some checks for banks around the world. This movie is very fun, entertaining, very interesting. The DVD has some cool features about the making of the movie, the costumes and an interview with the real Frank W.Abagnale Jr.
Rating:
Summary: Sensationalized
Review: Ok, I know it is a movie, but really, do you have to drop all the real facts? Catch Me If You Can is based on the true life story of Frank Abagnale. It does describe certain parts of Frank Abagnale's journey as a medical resident, CEO, lawyer, and airplane co-pilot, but I guess they thought that they needed another story line so they created the FBI character that chases him. Well, in truth, he was not caught by the FBI (he was caught by police overseas) and the relationship and engagement that takes up a significant portion of the move never actually got that far in real life. Even with the baseless story leaps, the movie is well acted and very colorful. The DVD is packed with extras, even a track of the DVD entitled Frank Abagnale: Between Reality and Fiction.
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful fun...
Review: Steven Spielberg has finally returned to comedy... sort of. Based on a true story (and from what I hear, quite accurate), this film follows the life of a very young Frank Abagnale jr. who runs away from home and disguises himself as a pilot, then a doctor, then a lawyer, all in the course of two years. The FBI is following him, particularly Carl Handratty, who works in the fraud department and doesn't have much for a sense of humor. This film strays from the usual "based on a true story" inspirational dreck and instead creates a fun, fast pace. The film runs close to two and a half hours, but feels like a mere 70 minutes. DiCaprio is perfect as young Abagnale, Hanks is (as always) marvelous as Handratty, but the best performance in the film comes from Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale Sr. Walken owns every scene he's in. He's absolutely brilliant. "Catch Me If You Can" is a very different film for Spielberg, but he shows once again that in the movie business, he's the very best.
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