Summary and Review of The Film Catch Me if You Can

Before I watched the film “Catch me if you can” I looked up some information about the film. The film from 2002 is directed and produced by Steven Spielberg, who also directed the classics: “E.T., BFG, Jaws, Jurassic Park” and plenty more. In this film Steven Spielberg collaborates for the 4th time with the famous actor Tom Hanks who plays the FBI-agent, Carl Hanratty. The main character, Frank Abagnale Jr, is played by Leonardo DiCaprio. This is his first collaboration with Steven Spielberg. The story of this biographical crime film is based on the true story of Frank Abagnale Jr, who also wrote a book about his life in 1980. Frank, the real one, told after the film was released, that about 80% of the story was accurate. At first Frank Abagnale Jr. thought Leonardo wasn’t suitable for playing his role, because he didn’t think DiCaprio was “suave” enough to play him. But after the film was released, he took it all back. Some fun facts about this film are that the film was shot in 147 locations in only 52 days. And also all the roads in the scenes are wet although the sun is always shining.

As I mentioned before, this film is a biographical film. The film “Catch me if you can” takes place in ‘50s and 60’s. It’s about a teenager, Frank Abagnale Jr., who runs away from home when his parents want to divorce. At that moment, Frank has barely money so he decides to pretend he is a co-pilot in order to use easily checks. By using this method he was able to steal over $2.8 million. After a while an FBI bank fraud agent, Carl Hanratty, begins tracking Frank. So Frank decides to find other ways to get more money and starts pretending he is a doctor, even if he didn’t had a medical diploma. During his work as doctor he fell in love with one of the nurses, Brenda Strong. In order to convince Brenda’s dad to marry her, he pretends he is also a lawyer. It worked and they got married. But the FBI agent, Carl, was still trying to find Frank. After a lot of night work he found out about Franks wedding and raided during the wedding. After all, Frank could escape again and told his fiancé he would wait at the airport in 3 days. 3 days later, at the airport, he found out she informed the FBI. Again he found a way out and flew to France where continued making fake checks. But Carl Hanratty wasn’t going to let Frank go and continued searching him around the world. Will he ever catch him?

This film is definitely in my Top 15 best movies. I like this film so much because firstly, the good looking Leonardo DiCaprio is in it. Secondly, because it’s based on a true story, before this film I could never believe someone could make a fraud of 2.5 million dollar. Frank Abagnale Junior has definitely an impressive life story, especially if you know how the film ends. Thirdly, it’s an original story, the film has a lot of plot twists. The only thing I personally liked less, is that there is not a single “good” woman character in the film, either the woman is a prostitute, shy and naïve or an adulterer. But beside that, it is a very entertaining, funny film. I surely recommend it!