Leo's not that bad after all...

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  • George Bellefontaine
    Moderator Emeritus
    • Jan 2001
    • 7637

    Leo's not that bad after all...

    I was humming and hawwing over whether or not to rent Catch Me If You Can. I just have a hard time warming up to DeCaprio. But I am glad I did. This is an excellent evening's entertainment, made so much more compelling by the fact it is based on a true story. In fact, the man who's life the film was based on, actually played a part in the making of it. I'm not going to go into any detail here, other than to say that Leo's character becomes an expert at fraud and forgery, and leads people to believe that he is an airline pilot, a doctor and a lawyer.
    Tom Hanks is pretty good as the FBI agent on Leo's trail, but for me it was Chris Walken who stole the film with his sensitive portrayal of Leo's father.

    The film runs well over two hours, but it has great pace so you don't notice the time. A keeper for those who can't get enough of Speilberg, and a renter for those who are looking for a good 2 plus hours of entertainment.




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  • Burke Strickland
    Moderator
    • Sep 2001
    • 3161

    #2
    Thanks for the mini-review. I was wondering whether to give this one a shot or not. Spielberg has done a lot of outstanding work, but has done enough "clinkers" to warrant caution. And DiCreepio does nothing for me at all. OTOH, I haven't seen a really bad performance by Tom Hanks, and Christopher Walken is always convincing whether playing a sympathetic figure or some wigged-out wacko. So, with an interesting sounding story, some good performances and your endorsement, looks like I'll have to give this one a look-see.

    Burke

    What you DON'T say may be held against you...

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    • David Meek
      Moderator Emeritus
      • Aug 2000
      • 8938

      #3
      George, gotta agree with you on this one. Pleasantly surprising. Here's the review I did of it after seeing it at the theater:

      Catch Me If You Can




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      • Burke Strickland
        Moderator
        • Sep 2001
        • 3161

        #4
        David's review pretty well captured the essence of "Catch Me If You Can" -- I had forgotten about reading it back in January, but actually that is good, since it is loaded with spoilers and I ended up agreeing with it reading it a second time based on having watched the DVD. Except for the references to "Gangs of New York", which although much more ambitious a movie, was to me, anyway, a much less satisfying viewing experience -- and NOT because of DiCaprio's performance, which actually wasn't bad at all within the context of the story. But that's a different movie and isn't on DVD yet anyway.

        As for DiCaprio's performance in "Catch Me If You Can", it is engaging, believable and makes you sympathize with the character, which I have not been able to say about many of his performances in the past. (As in "any". And one good performance doesn't automatically make me a "fan".) Tom Hanks is thoroughly convincing as the FBI agent, although in thinking about it afterward, what his character did is, in many ways, more preposterous than what the itinerant career-changing kid did. Christopher Walken was surprisingly low key and really didn't have much screen time, but was very effective in a subtle way in his role even so. I can't think of any character who seemed out of place as acted by the person cast for the role. Although there were obviously two key players with a lot of good supporting performances, rather than a large ensemble cast of equals, Spielberg really made this a "character" movie, not a razzle dazzle special effects tour de force.

        I know I'll enjoy watching "Catch Me If You Can" several more times for the performances -- and at least once to be able to see it all the way through without interuption. We had a power outage in my neighborhood that began when I was about half-way into the movie and lasted for several hours. (When the power came back on, I started back one scene before where I left off but not at the beginning of the movie.) Although there were some interesting twists and turns in the story and the timeline of the narrative was NOT linear, fortunately by the end of the movie, I was not left in the dark as to what was going on in the movie. :>)

        Burke

        What you DON'T say may be held against you...

        Comment

        • Dean McManis
          Moderator Emeritus
          • May 2003
          • 762

          #5
          Yeah, I usually don't buy DVDs of movies that I haven't seen in the theater, but I had read good things about Catch Me if you Can, and I bought the DVD.

          I just watched it last night and was pleased with the acting performances, and the movie overall. It's a fun story, and it does add much to it that it really happened.

          I haven't watched any of the extras (there's a second DVD in the package), but I did enjoy the movie, and I will likely be watching it again. 8)

          -Dean.

          Comment

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