Catch Me If You Can is much like the title suggests. It's a cat and mouse game wherein Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks) of the FBI is chasing around Frank Abaganale Jr. (Leonardo DiCaprio), a teenager who is also a master scam artist.

The story begins with Frank’s father, Frank Sr. (Christopher Walken), who is having trouble with his wife (Nathalie Baye) as well as with the IRS. Frank runs away from home, partly out of distress because his parents are divorcing, but also with the intent to find a way to get enough money to solve his father’s financial problems. Frank flies around the country by passing himself off as a co-pilot. He then pursues other occupations such as a doctor and a lawyer while creating fake pay checks that he cashes in all over the country. Detective Carl Hanratty, who is hard on his tail the whole time, eventually catches him by outsmarting him – which isn’t easy to do; Frank is a smart kid.

It's fun to watch Frank working people and passing himself off under fake occupations while cleverly evading Hanratty in every move. It’s kind of like watching an episode of "The Pretender". Even more fun is Spielberg’s use of about 50,000 different sets throughout the movie. The characters never stay in a single place for more than a few minutes and we rarely get repeat locations. This is about as opposite of Phone Booth as you can get. The constant movement of the scenery keeps the film moving, even when the story occasionally stalls. And not only are we constantly seeing something new, but the set is always wonderfully shot with beautiful lighting at every point. Just as good are the performances by DiCaprio, Walken and Hanks, who are clearly having fun playing with their characters. John Williams’ score also adds to the campy fun that makes up so much of the environment.

Like most “Based on a true story” stories, Catch Me assumes we will be entranced by the fact that all of this “actually” happened, even in the films slower moments. The most disappointing aspect, however, is simply the lack of any real ideas that might have been developed with a stronger script. We get a few lines from Hanratty about his mysterious background that includes the idea of the need to create a new identity, but nothing significant. Catch Me If You Can seems to be happy just trying to make you keep up with it. And we have fun trying to.