 We're never quite sure how to evaluate films based on true stories. If it seems to be omitting important details---a la The People vs. Larry Flynt---the filmmaker can counter that all screenwriters take liberties to make their stories work as films. If the plot seems to lack any sort of defining moment---a la Man on the Moon---the creators can argue that they are merely depicting the facts of the real-life story. So we're stuck. About the only thing we can do is make fun of Courtney Love.
Unfortunately, that hypocritical, bottom-feeding, sycophant does not appear in Steven Spielberg's Catch Me If You Can. While we were thrilled with the casting decision, it leaves us with difficulty expressing our lukewarm reaction to Golden Boy's film, at once fun and disappointing.
Like the aforementioned Milos Forman vehicles, Catch Me focuses on a compelling and provocative subject (in this case, a con man). But it never quite delivers as much as promised by the awesome opening credits. The major plot points of almost the entire movie are revealed shortly thereafter: in the late 1960s, New York high schooler Frank Abagnale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio) became one of the most accomplished con men in U.S. history, impersonating an airline pilot, a doctor, a lawyer, and, in Spielberg's version, a heartthrob. Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) is the lonely, obsessive FBI agent who catches him.
It makes for fun viewing. The 28-year-old DiCaprio does a curiously impressive job impersonating someone who has just recently exited puberty, and is perfect as the cool, smooth-talking swindler. He also injects occasional displays of insecurity, never letting us forget that Abergnale Jr. is a confused, lonely kid (like DiCaprio perhaps, when he accepted the lead in The Beach?). Hanks---though we swear he changes accents a couple times---is appropriately understated as the lonely pursuer whose life, coincidentally, has a void that would be filled nicely by a new son.
Thankfully, that cliche is not overdone, and it fits well with Spielberg's vivid depictions of the Abergnale household, where Christopher Walken plays the tragic father. He's really the perfect choice for Abergnale Sr.---wouldn't you turn out a little messed up if Christopher Walken was your dad?---and his scenes with DiCaprio make for some of the most interesting moments of the film. The other star of the film, of course, is Spielberg, who as usual excels with the aesthetic. The set, costumes, and color---as buoyant as Austin Powers, but without the kitsch---are brilliant in every sense of the word. And quick editing serves the heist format well.
All in all, it's high entertainment. Of course, so is an episode of The Pretender.
The problem with Spielberg's film is some glaring omissions. For one, there is strangely little explanation of how Abergnale went from small-time charlatan to a world-class impersonator. Example: How did he continue to fly regularly in cockpits, even after newspapers broke the story of a serial con-man pilot? (And you thought airport security was bad nowadays.) Spielberg's film is also surprisingly silent on the lives damaged by Abergnale's con-spree.
For this reason, we couldn't help but feel we were missing something as the film unfolded, and the effect was to make the story seem somehow uneven. Despite a funny twist in the film's coda, we never quite get the payoff promised by the trailer, the opening credits, and most of the film's 140 minutes.
What we're saying is that Spielberg's film, though dressed up perfectly, never quite delivers what it says it will. In other words, it's a bit of a con, which, come to think of it, might be appropriate after all.
Beowulf
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