Movies
Weekend Box Office
Film Awards & Top 10s By Year
All-Time High Scores
All-Time Low Scores
Wide Releases
Now In Theaters
76
(500) Days of Summer
60
9
17
All About Steve
37
Amelia
53
Astro Boy
66
Bandslam
45
Box, The
61
Capitalism: A Love Story
55
Christmas Carol, A
43
Cirque du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
66
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
29
Collector, The
23
Couples Retreat
80
District 9
61
Extract
39
Fame
30
Final Destination, The
34
Fourth Kind, The
60
Funny People
32
G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
27
Gamer
41
G-Force
39
Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, The
46
Halloween II
73
Hangover, The
78
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
55
I Can Do Bad All By Myself
66
Informant!, The
69
Inglourious Basterds
58
Invention of Lying, The
47
Jennifer's Body
66
Julie & Julia
34
Law Abiding Citizen
33
Love Happens
54
Men Who Stare At Goats, The
67
Michael Jackson's This Is It
51
My Sister's Keeper
42
Orphan
28
Pandorum
63
Perfect Getaway, A
86
Ponyo![]()
35
Post Grad
48
Proposal, The
30
Saw VI
53
Shorts
24
Sorority Row
83
Star Trek![]()
33
Stepfather, The
45
Surrogates
55
Taking Woodstock
47
Time Traveler's Wife
96
Toy Story/Toy Story 2 3D![]()
35
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
28
Ugly Truth, The
88
Up![]()
71
Where the Wild Things Are
67
Whip It
28
Whiteout
73
Zombieland
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Limited Releases
Now In Theaters
58
(Untitled)
96
35 Shots of Rum![]()
56
Adam
72
Adela
39
Adventures of Power
78
Afghan Star
61
After the Storm
66
Afterschool
xx
All the Best
58
American Casino
72
Amreeka
48
Antichrist
73
Araya
62
Art & Copy
55
As Seen Through These Eyes
76
Baader Meinhof Complex, The
86
Beaches of Agnes, The![]()
13
Beautiful Life, A
70
Beeswax
35
Beyond a Reasonable Doubt
71
Big Fan
66
Black Dynamite
51
Blind Date
xx
Blind Pig Who Wants to Fly
76
Bliss
35
Blue Tooth Virgin, The
26
Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day, The
57
Boys Are Back, The
45
Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
81
Bright Star![]()
70
Bronson
45
Burning Plain, The
xx
Carriers
55
Casi Divas
57
Chelsea on the Rocks
62
Cloud 9
65
Coco Before Chanel
69
Cold Souls
59
Collapse
44
Confessionsofa Ex-Doofus-ItchyFooted Mutha
82
Cove, The![]()
75
Crude
82
Damned United, The![]()
67
Departures
xx
Dil Bole Hadippa
71
Disgrace
xx
Do Knot Disturb
70
Earth Days
24
Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat
85
Education, An![]()
55
Endgame
xx
Eulogy for a Vampire
xx
Everyone Else
xx
Fatal Promises
56
Fifty Dead Men Walking
62
Five Minutes of Heaven
74
Flame & Citron
49
Food Beware: The French Organic Revolution
80
Food, Inc.
28
Free Style
xx
From Mexico with Love
50
Fuel
25
Gentlemen Broncos
50
Give Me Your Hand
58
Gogol Bordello Non-Stop
72
Good Hair
89
Goodbye Solo![]()
52
Grace
64
Harmony and Me
81
Headless Woman, The![]()
xx
Heretics, The
63
Horse Boy, The
73
House of the Devil, The
xx
How to Seduce Difficult Women
74
Humpday
94
Hurt Locker, The![]()
29
I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell
16
If One Thing Matters: A Film About Wolfgang Tillmans
75
In Search of Beethoven
83
In the Loop![]()
61
Intimate Enemies
42
Irene in Time
70
It Might Get Loud
46
Killing Kasztner
19
Labor Day
xx
Laila's Birthday
41
Little Ashes
41
Little Traitor, The
66
Liverpool
34
Looking for Palladin
80
Lorna's Silence
83
Maid, The![]()
xx
Ministers, The
59
More Than a Game
67
Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers, The
34
Motherhood
62
My One and Only
xx
Mystery Team
48
New York, I Love You
73
Night and Day
66
No Impact Man
47
Ong Bak 2: The Beginning
34
Other Man, The
xx
Painter Sam Francis, The
54
Paper Heart
xx
Paradise
68
Paranormal Activity
68
Paris
44
Peter and Vandy
35
Play the Game
77
Precious: Based on the Novel by Sapphire
xx
Pretty Ugly People
65
Providence Effect, The
76
Rembrandt's J'accuse
69
September Issue, The
79
Serious Man, A
40
Shrink
61
Skin
77
Skin Too Few: The Days of Nick Drake, A
xx
Skiptracers
46
Splinterheads
39
St. Trinian's
89
Still Walking![]()
50
Stoning of Soraya M., The
55
Storm
65
Tetro
70
That Evening Sun
72
Thirst
xx
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas 3D (re-release)
61
Trucker
xx
Turning Green
83
U2 3D![]()
66
Unmade Beds
66
Unmistaken Child
70
Visual Acoustics
55
Walt & El Grupo
67
Way We Get By, The
69
We Live in Public
64
Wedding Song, The
64
Where is Where?
xx
White on Rice
74
Woman in Berlin, A
69
World's Greatest Dad
70
Yes Men Fix the World
69
Yoo-Hoo, Mrs. Goldberg
xx
You, the Living
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed movies.
Catch Me If You Can
EMAILPRINTDreamWorks Distribution LLC

Generally favorable reviews
Based on 38 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 64 votes
Read user comments
Rate this movie >
Movie Info
Genre(s): Drama
Written by:
Jeff Nathanson
Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding (book Catch Me If You Can)
Directed by: Steven Spielberg
Release Date:
Theatrical: December 25, 2002
DVD: May 6, 2003
Running Time: 140 minutes, Color
Origin: USA
Summary
RATING: PG-13 for some sexual content and brief language
Starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Tom Hanks, Christopher Walken, Jennifer Garner, Amy Adams, Martin Sheen, Frank John Hughes, and Brian Howe
Frank W. Abagnale (DiCaprio) worked as a doctor, a lawyer and as a co-pilot for a major airline -- all before his 21st birthday. A master of deception, he was also a brilliant forger, whose skill at check fraud had netted him millions of dollars in stolen funds. FBI agent Carl Hanratty (Hanks) has made it his prime mission to capture Frank and bring him to justice, but Frank is always one step ahead of him, baiting him to continue the chase. (DreamWorks)
Also On Metacritic
FILM: A.I. Artificial Intelligence Amistad E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial Empire of the Sun Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Jaws Jurassic Park Minority Report Munich Raiders of the Lost Ark Saving Private Ryan Schindler's List The Color Purple The Lost World: Jurassic Park The Terminal War of the Worlds
Also On The Web: Internet Movie Database View The Trailer Official Studio Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin
Part of Spielberg's skill as a filmmaker comes in choosing the right collaborators. Janusz Kaminski's gorgeous cinematography, Michael Kahn's graceful editing, Jeff Nathanson's clever script, and John Williams' score all work well in unison, but the film's masterstroke is the casting of Walken as DiCaprio's utterly decent father.
Read Full Review >Washington Post Stephen Hunter
It's brilliantly acted. But best of all, it's brilliantly made.
Read Full Review >Portland Oregonian Shawn Levy
It's the most charming and buoyant film Spielberg's ever made.
Read Full Review >Time Richard Schickel
Results in about the nicest movie you could ask for at the holidays: a gently funny, sweetly adventurous film that makes you feel genuinely good, that is to say, entirely unconned by false sentiment or sharp, overmanipulative Hollywood practices.
Read Full Review >Newsweek David Ansen
Never less than engaging; all thats missing is a proper crescendo. The picture moves along briskly, even at two and a half hours, but it seems to be running on cruise control.
Read Full Review >Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov
Everything about this swift and gorgeous and tremendously enjoyable film is played out in a rush of staccato edits, crisp performances, and charmingly giddy subplots that coalesce into Spielberg's most purely entertaining movie in years.
Read Full Review >Boston Globe Ty Burr
Nothing if not a celebration of our willingness to be gulled by life's charming strangers.
Read Full Review >Dallas Observer Robert Wilonsky
Breezy and easy to swallow. Its maker, Steven Spielberg, hasn't had so much fun in two decades.
Read Full Review >The New Yorker David Denby
Spielberg must have sensed that he owed us some fun, and the movie has a sleek and carefree look -- the lightness of a sixties comedy, made with the extraordinary speed and panache of our most fluent director. This is a true holiday film, a gift from some genuine pros who know how to entertain without sweat. [23 & 30 December 2002, p. 166]
Variety Todd McCarthy
Like a trot around the track for the thoroughbreds involved, and one of the results is that it takes them far too long to get to the finish line.
Read Full Review >LA Weekly John Powers
As an actor DiCaprio has long been known for his ardor, not to mention his tiresome self-seriousness, but working for Spielberg, he plays his scenes with a comic deftness I thought he didn't have in him.
Read Full Review >Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum
Based on the real-life exploits of Frank W. Abagnale but played more for myth than believability.
Read Full Review >The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann
Spielberg directs so fluently that it takes a while to perceive how well made the film is.
Read Full Review >Slate David Edelstein
Feels more like The Bill Clinton Story than "Primary Colors" (1998). It's a paean to naughty boys who dream of potency and become enraptured by their own scams -- a great American archetype.
Read Full Review >Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold
DiCaprio could hardly be better. He brings this outrageous character and his demons to life with skill, sympathy and a symphony of small, telling touches.
Read Full Review >The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen
The movie could have used a further dose of the resonance Walken gives it, and a more intellectually adventurous director might have brought the theme close to home.
Read Full Review >Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington
Brilliant performances by DiCaprio as Frank Jr. and Christopher Walken as his fallen father - and an enjoyable one by Tom Hanks.
Read Full Review >Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman
The film's charm ends up worn out by the very perfection of Frank's con. We look at this teen wizard of rotating identity, and we realize we know everything about him except who he is.
Read Full Review >Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez
Even in its somewhat unwieldy form, Catch Me If You Can is charming, sparkling entertainment.
Read Full Review >San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle
What lingers in the memory is the impression of having experienced a frolic, a ride through the park on a bright winter day.
Read Full Review >Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea
In the end (and it's a happy end, to be sure), Catch Me if You Can is as crisp and trim as a new suit. Well, a new old suit - say, circa the 1960s.
Read Full Review >New York Daily News Jami Bernard
A pleasant romp through the land of Truth Is Stranger Than Fiction.
Read Full Review >Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt
Spielberg's directing is a tad less tricky than usual, but he doesn't have much talent for psychological suspense, which is the heart of the story. DiCaprio underplays nicely and Walken is superb as the con artist's downtrodden dad.
Read Full Review >Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert
This is not a major Spielberg film, although it is an effortlessly watchable one.
Read Full Review >ReelViews James Berardinelli
An enjoyable, although not ambitious, holiday outing.
Read Full Review >New York Post Lou Lumenick
You won't find a movie that's more fun this season -- but at 2-1/2 hours, it's probably too much of a good thing.
Read Full Review >Los Angeles Times Manohla Dargis
For all his genre-hopping and shape-shifting Spielberg seems to have become too big to tell small stories, which is one reason why the film sputters on one too many false endings.
Read Full Review >Film Threat Rick Kisonak
We aren't talking Oscar here. We're talking truly fine performances and an unexpectedly hep John Williams score. We are talking a story that rollicks with the most rollicking of them. Not great cinema; just a great time at the movies and certainly a film well worth catching if you can.
Read Full Review >Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern
Finally seems like a bit of a con in its own right, but a marvelously smooth one.
Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow
Spielberg's inchoate attempts at cultural observation stretch the movie out and dilute the giddiness instead of adding a pleasurable spike. When the movie doesn't feel inflated, it feels soggy.
Read Full Review >USA Today Mike Clark
Catch offers mild fun but never as much as its animated '60s-retro opening credits portend. They're the cutest of the year.
Read Full Review >Salon.com Charles Taylor
Well-enough made and highly watchable, but it lacks the one thing that would put some swing in its step and some swagger in its attitude: a sense of jazz.
Read Full Review >TV Guide Ken Fox
The whole lighter-than-air lark whizzes by like a brisk, kandy-kolored dream of the 1960s, flavored by a Saul Bass inspired credit sequence; a slinky, Henry Mancini-esque score; and a stunning array of period sets and evocative locales.
Read Full Review >Village Voice J. Hoberman
DiCaprio is far more successfully cast here than in Gangs of New York: His performance is all about acting; it's a mild kick to see how he'll manage to talk his way out of nearly every scrape.
Read Full Review >Rolling Stone Peter Travers
What begins brightly gets bogged down over 140 minutes. A film that took off like a hare on speed ends like a winded tortoise.
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this movie is 7.5 (out of 10) based on 64 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Ed M. gave it a9:
Fantastic, witty, clever and nailbiting the entire time...J. Ryan G stop trying to be cleverer than everyone else all the fucking time and just enjoy a good film. you cunt !!
Rebecca S. gave it a9:
This movie is smart, witty and plays with the elements of classic 1970's movies; such as one flew over the cukoo's nest. A highly entertaining watch.
Alex P gave it a10:
This movie marked a turn for Di Caprio as a pretty face in terrible movies to a great actor in great movies. This movie is funny, smart, and moving and the acting does not disappoint either.
Grace A. gave it a10:
I love it, a movie that can be watched over and over again and it will be good every time.
Peter C. gave it a10:
Way underrated, this is an exciting, quick, and well built movie with an excellent plot. Leo and Tom together work, but Tom does the better job.
Bit Burn gave it an8:
Highly entertaining.
Andy gave it a6:
Was entertaining but somewhat disappointing.
