Film & Book Reviews by Ashley S.

September 29, 2024

The world is our oyster and Catch Me If You Can breaks all boundaries. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank Abagnale as a natural born con artist. We witness Frank’s character become completely absorbed by different personalities, only to fund his delusional of his torn family.

Frank is a 16-year-old kid with the ability to morph into any person he wanted. When we examine his success in fooling everyone around him it conveys strength and confidence. I think Frank’s dad, Frank Sr. played by Christopher Walken, really influenced his sense of self. His father was often honest with him about the police involvement in their finances. Although the audience could consider this too honest, it was appreciated. The real issue I think was Frank’s mother, Paula. She was seemingly removed and was not very careful with her promiscuous manners. The trauma that may develop from witnessing a parent having sexual or inappropriate relations with another man, typically begins to impact the psyche. The relationships that were formed both individually with each parent and as a unit has a large impact on the way that we deal with our problems. Divorce is considered an adverse event that can psychologically damage a child, particularly with the circumstances of having to choose between the two parents.

Frank was able to embody all professional attitudes with grace and comedy. It was interesting to see his ability to mold himself and adapt to new environments. Throughout his ventures, Frank was often driven by money. Of course, he knew that since he had run away from home he needed money to survive. Frank was calculated yet blind as he navigated the world.

Agent Carl Hanratty & Frank Abagnale during first encounter

Upon their first encounter, Agent Carl played by Tom Hanks, completely gets duped by Frank. He goes on to press him and Frank morphs into an agent from the Secret Service. In the moment, he embodied the role with such fluid confidence that it was believable enough for him to run out of the room! After this, there seems to be an intensified investigation into Frank and he eventually hits too close to home. Upon his impersonation of an Emergency ER supervisor, he meets a girl that he quickly falls in love with. Her father then hires him to become an assistant prosecutor. It is just an ongoing and cyclical theme of each new profession to blend in with his surroundings. As humans, we often try our best to assimilate within our environment: Frank was taking this to the utmost extreme levels but there is a point to it. He wanted his family to get back together. Frank only ever wanted to become someone that his father could be proud of. When he tried to give his father a new car and he declined, you could see it there in that moment that all he wanted was to give Frank Sr. back all the things that were taken from them.

Frank was an innocent yet seemingly not innocent, playing in a world of ghosts that he had no business. He was so traumatized by everything that happened with his family that he did what he could to piece it back together again.

“Carl occasionally visits Frank. During one visit, he shows him a fraudulent check from a case he is working on. Frank immediately deduces that the bank teller was involved in the fraud. Impressed, Carl convinces the FBI to allow him to serve the remainder of his sentence working for the FBI Financial Crimes Unit. Frank agrees but soon grows restless doing the tedious office work.”

In the end, Frank gets his way into helping the FBI and making use of his extensive talents into fraudulent checks. This was based on a true story by the way.

Leonardo DiCaprio and the real Frank Abagnale (2017)