Catch Me If You Can

Steven Spielberg is a widely mis-understood director. I walked away from this film initially thinking, oh, what a nice fluffy comedy. And, as usual when I watch Spielberg films, about 2 hours later I'd revised my opinion completely. The story of a boy who manipulates the world around him into thinking he's an airline pilot, medical doctor and trial lawyer is actually not even a comedy. It's a rather astute analysis of what appearance means in our society (is that person really what he seems to be?), the role of family (as in all Spielberg films, the subject of family is in the foreground), and the myth of cinema in general (what are we really seeing when we watch film?). Besides which, as mentioned in the L.A. Times in an article entitled "The Iowa of the Oscars," Leonardo DiCaprio is noted as a possible Best Actor contender for this movie, with the tag line "Maybe We Were Wrong About Him." Oh, we sure were. But, that's a rant for another day.

year: 2002
length: 141 min.
rating: 3.5
IMDB link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0264464/combined