Frank Abagnale Jr was a con-man and grifter who passed hundreds of fraudulent cheques and successfully impersonated an airline pilot, a physician, and an attorney; all before his twenty-first birthday.
Abagnale, it should be noted, is a real person who - after finally being caught and spending a number of years in prison - turned to a career as a security consultant. This movie presents a highly fictionalised and dramatised version of his story. It's well cast - in particular I think Leonardo di Caprio definitely has the easy charm to carry off Abagnale's exploits - and well acted. It's even mildly entertaining, in a low key, takes-slightly-too-long-about-things kind of way.
All that said, however, I wouldn't really recommend the film because it is quite slow and really rather self-indulgent and schmaltzy (but then, it is a Spielberg film). Also, and probably more important to me personally, I have read Abagnale's book of the same name and it frankly far more engaging and interesting. The same story in different media will (and generally should) be delivered differently, of course. But in this case I think the final product just doesn't gel together as well.
Read the book, says I. It's a good one.
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