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It’s
two – two – two movies in one…
I
was fortunate to be able to see Catch Me If You Can
twice last weekend because the first time was a bit of a shock. Based on the great trailers and TV spots, I
was expecting a big jazzy movie.
But Spielberg & Co. were after something more than
that.
Catch
Me If You Can really tells two different stories.
First, there is the story of a family, happy on the
surface, but broken slowly by outside forces. This is a movie about a seventeen-year-old
boy who really loves and idealizes his parents. It is about a father who wants the world for his son and is willing
to break a few rules to make it happen. And it is about an immigrant wife and mother whose journey to the
magical land of America has left her head a little in the
clouds and willing to do whatever she needs to do in order
to keep her dream life real.
From
this comes the other movie… the movie about a young man who
finds that making new rules works for him a lot better than
staying on the straight and narrow.
His genuine sweetness is what makes him unstoppable.
He is a boy playing in a man’s world more effectively
than the men around him.
That’s
how he meets Carl Hanratty, FBI agent. Tom Hank’s Hanratty chases and Frank
Abagnale, Jr., the real life character that Leoonrdo DiCaprio
plays, runs. That’s
the jazzy part that you’ve seen in the commercials.
But the movie is very much about the familial needs
of Frank, Jr. and that’s why it is more than just a fun commercial
movie.
The
reality is that Catch Me If You Can is a little uneven.
It seems to be aiming at an emotional triangle with
DiCaprio at the apex and “fathers” Hanks and Christopher
Walken vying for his soul.
But that structure never quite works.
Both Hanks and Walken give near-perfect performances.
Both could be nominated for Best Supporting Actor,
with Walken the shoo-in and Hanks the always-good performer
who Oscar loves and who could be swept in on a big Catch wave.
Nonetheless, their interactions with Leo/Frank, Jr.
are consistently individual and uncoordinated as a thematic
effort.
And,
as with other Steven Spielberg movies, Catch suffers a bit
from too many good ideas.
There are two opening sequences in Catch and there
is really no reason for this. Both are well made. Both are compelling. But one is pretty much gilding the lily, while
the other builds the structure of the storytelling to come. You hate to lose good stuff, but sometimes
it’s better to do so. (The
back credits would be a fun place for the recreated TV sequence.)
That
said, Catch Me If You Can is a surefire hit and a likely
contender for across-the-board Oscar nominations because DiCaprio
and Hanks and Walken keep you in the movie from the first
frames to the last.
It’s
funny. One studio
is pushing a potential Oscar movie on the basis that it speaks
to the current moral status of the country.
But Catch Me If You Can does that film one better. It is really lovely to see a family that really
seems to love one another… a young man who really loves his
parents… and a step away from the moral that is motivated
by idealized needs and not just greed and rage.
The
opening credits are kind of Saul Bass meets Warhol’s
advertising work. The
score by John Williams is uncharacteristically jazzy. The effects work in recreating the 60s is remarkable. Perhaps the most difficult shot is a pan down
of the Pan Am building, which is no longer the Pan Am building,
to a Park Avenue full of cars, a sidewalk fill of people convincingly
of the era and a Leo in a phone booth.
The
film reminded me of some of the cop flicks of the early 70s…
movies like No Way To Treat A Lady. If they made this film in its real time, it surely would have starred
George Segal as the frustrated FBI agent, Redford as
the kid and Sterling Hayden as Abagnale, Sr.
(Don’t do the math.) Maybe Sidney Lumet would
have directed.
This
version has perhaps Christopher Walken’s best non-psycho
role ever. Frank Sr.
is a very complex character who comes to life in very brief
glimpses throughout the film.
And Walken is funny and charming and mysterious and
smart and no one should be surprised if he takes home the
Best Supporting Actor Oscar at the Kodak Theater in March.
Overall,
I really liked Catch Me If You Can. But I can’t say that I was overwhelmed, specifically
because of the pacing issues and because the triangle never
really forms. The
performances are sterling. But the pace of the film keeps shifting.
There is more than enough here for audiences looking
for a good, solid movie going experience this season.
My guess is that it will gross over $150 million domestic.
And when it moves from the big screen to small screens
via DVD/Video, it will be one of those movies that people
watch over and over and over again.
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