Director: Steven Spielberg
Stars: Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Martin Sheen, Nathalie Baye, Amy Adams, James Brolin
Certificate: 12A
Running time: 141 minutes

Catch Me If You Can is inspired by the true story of Frank William Abagnale Jr. and him running from the FBI, whilst committing a fair bit of cheque fraud along the way.

When his parents divorce, having to choose which parent he wants to live with is too much for Frank, so he decides to run away from the decision…quite literally! Along the way he poses as an airline pilot, a doctor, and a lawyer, forging cheques as he goes. He is soon living a playboy lifestyle with his newfound wealth, along with his jaunts all over the world as an airline pilot. However, the FBI are on to him, and in particular agent Carl Hanratty who will seemingly stop at nothing to get his man.

Leonardo DiCaprio is excellent as Frank. He brings a certain innocence to the role, which is very much a good thing when you consider that Frank Abagnale did all these things before his nineteenth birthday. DiCaprio also makes Frank likeable, and clearly shows that Abagnale was charming, very intelligent, and a very convincing liar. Towards the end of the film, he shows the innocence and the vulnerability that you would expect. DiCaprio has received plaudits for his performance in the recent Gangs Of New York, but his performance here surpasses that.

Tom Hanks is very good as agent Hanratty. At the start of the film he is very "by-the-book" when it comes to his job. He also seems fearful of confrontation, and this is very apparent when he first meets Frank. In the cat and mouse game he, like DiCaprio, manages to play both, as he grasps the concept of lying. We also see how he is similar to Frank, as he too has run away from his problems instead of dealing with them.

The supporting cast are all very good too, in particular Christopher Walken as Frank Abagnale Sr, but this is very much a DiCaprio/Hanks vehicle, and on this showing that is definitely not a bad thing.

More often than not, if Steven Spielberg directs a film you know it's going to be good. The man who brought us films such as Jaws, Jurassic Park, and E.T. The Extra Terrestrial as well as last year's excellent Minority Report does it again. He manages to bring his usual bit of glitz to the film, and you're never very sure if the part of the story that you're watching was one of Abagnale's adventures, or one that Spielberg created. He manages to make the story follow the pace of the pursuit. When Abagnale is on the run the scenes are short and sharp, but when he slows down, the scenes are longer and more drawn out.

All in all, this is an excellent film, one of Spielberg's best. With strong performances from both the excellent leads, as well as the supporting cast, this is definitely a film worth seeing. As the title instructs you to do………..Catch It If You Can.