Steven Spielberg’s second 2002 film is a dinosaur. It’s an anachronism. It belongs to the time period in which it’s set, a more innocent America where Charles Manson had not brought violence to the wealthy and Vietnam was still a winnable (and profitable) war. It’s Catch Me If You Can, the story of con man Frank Abagnale, Jr., who may very well be the world’s foremost expert on forgery and fraud. If that doesn’t sound like a complimentary introduction, fear not; Catch Me a film’s film and a throwback to the cinema of yore, when audio and video combined to make an experience rather than an assault on the senses.

Imagine a mixture of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and To Catch a Thief. Catch Me has the slow pacing and careful cinematography of Hitchcock at his finest, and Spielberg has forsaken his recent effects-laden shots for straightforward storytelling. Every individual shot is deliberately framed, with a care for detail not usually seen outside of a Lynch film. There are no explosions to distract the eye from character interaction, and the overall effect is that of an effortless and immersive film.

Leonardo DiCaprio, in one of his best (and best-developed) roles since Gilbert Grape, plays Frank Abagnale, a teenager growing up outside of New York. His father (played by Christopher Walken) is being investigated by the IRS, and Frank Jr.’s idyllic American life full of apple pie, WWII vets marrying their sweethearts, and large-finned cars is about to come crashing down. When he finds that what he’s left with isn’t to his liking, Frank embarks on a career of impersonation and fraud. He passes himself off as an airline pilot, a Harvard-educated doctor, an assistant prosecutor, and a recruiter for an airline stewardess program - all before his 19th birthday. When he starts passing bad checks - to the tune of four million dollars - he attracts the attention of straightlaced FBI Agent Tom Hanks, who manages to avoid his Hanks persona in favor of actual acting.

Catch Me is a character story, told through a series of events in Abagnale’s life. It’s funny at times, but the portrait that develops is of a sad, lonely, and almost pathetic child who runs and hides because he doesn’t know what else to do. Hanks is like an automaton, relentless in his pursuit, and his grip on Abagnale only grows tighter with each narrow escape. It’s not a deep meditation on a philosophical subject, or an artistic look at some overused postmodern cliché. Catch Me aims to entertain, nothing more, and succeeds admirably.

Without effects, a blazing soundtrack, and fast-paced action to drive the story, Spielberg ekes the most from Hanks and DiCaprio without resorting to hammy overacting. This, combined with the easygoing plot and fantastic camerawork, lend Catch Me an unusual amount of verisimilitude for a modern film: it’s something to lose yourself in, where you no longer think "I’m watching a movie." That is an accomplishment worthy of note.

Final Grade: A-