Release Date:
Wednesday, December 25, 2002
Mix a big-time director (Steven Spielberg), big-time stars (Tom Hanks, Leonardo DiCaprio), and an intriguing true story, and get box office magic. Or maybe not. You may also get a sloppy story that loses itself in its cuteness about halfway through, yet keeps running with it. The true story of the youngest man ever to make it onto the FBIs Most Wanted list, DiCaprio appears as Frank Abagnale Jr., the tike on the run, and Hanks plays Carl Hanratty, the FBI agent on his tail. The methods in which Abagnale forges checks and fakes his way as a pilot, lawyer, and doctor are hard to believehis mimicry is actually of doctors and lawyers he sees on TV. Hanks, in the meantime, tries on an ill-fitting Boston accent. Catch Me will surely perform nicely at the box office, but we couldve done without watching this trio of Hollywood stars go through the motions.