Review

Frank Abagnale, Jr. was a charismatic, handsome teenager who in the mid-to-late 1960s scammed millions from banks and successfully impersonated a pilot, doctor and lawyer even though he had no college education. His story would have been an outrageous invention had it all not been true. In bringing this tale -- based on Abagnale's autobiography -- to the screen, director Spielberg has captured the breeziness of those fanciful comedies of the time period. The result is a delightful, buoyant comedy of, among other things, crime, money, sex, family and salvation -- but not necessarily in that order. DiCaprio is Abagnale, who begins a career in forgery after running away from home at age sixteen. It's not long before he shows such a talent that he has the FBI on his trail, headed by special agent Frank Hanratty (Hanks), who is determined to catch his man. The Javert-Valjean cat-and-mouse game soon gives way to a surprisingly touching surrogate father-son relationship, all the while Abagnale becomes more skilled in his felonious craft. The ensemble is uniformly terrific, with DiCaprio giving one of his best performances as a youth coerced into adulthood whose criminal dexterity is matched only by his charm and naivete. Hanks is first-rate as the relentless agent, and Walken is superb as Abagnale, Sr., a father beset by financial and familial woes. Always a master in storytelling, Spielberg is in an unusually good mood, making sure that everyone involved in this airy, entertaining romp is having fun. Everyone is -- but no one more than those watching it.