Spoilers

If you tell someone about this film they go ha yea brilliant idea for a film & then you tell them to google Frank & they oh shit this actually happened in real life. Yep it did, it really did. & Its DiCaprio & Hanks nailing it so whats not to love about this film. So get you bags people, were travelling back to the 60s & 70s for Catch me if you Can hehehehehe. Oh this is going to be fun.

So lets do the big debate about this film first just to get it out of the way… THIS IS A CHRISTMAS FILM!!!!! I dont care if you say its not, it bloody well is. He always speaks to him at christmas, on the phone, in person, on the run in prison. Its always christmas. IT even at one point plays the christmas song in the back ground. I know its not solely set at christmas but the number of references to it, mean it cant be ignored. There ive said it, if you dont like it you can yell at me.

I think this was th first time in my life growing up where i saw Tom Hanks as an actual person & not just a voice in the Toy Story films, & maybe thats why i have a large soft spot for this. I watch it & always remember ahh its this guy, & that the obviously triggered something in my mind that i know that voice. Aged 11 id have been like i know that guy. So this film set me up for some of the greatest performances in cinema history & the greatest actor of all time, so cheers Spielberg.

I knew DiCaprio, Titanic had been everywhere on everything for the majority of my childhood & i knew he was in Romeo & Juliette, so i knew i was watching someone special here too, but how special you just dont realise until much later on in life & you go Damn Leo, you were doing this at that age, god hes good. Dont take those performances for granted peoples, they set you up for life.

& the supporting cast ooooh my, like how young is Amy Adams, & Elizabeth Banks? Sheen, Walken are both brilliant they really are as his dad & as a father figure later on in the film. Its so well cast & so wow. You do sit there & think yea they all got this right, & the all just nailed it.

I love that we do jump from the past to the present throughout the film, but its only when its needed. So theres about 40mins where do dont jump at one point & then he goes to take the Bar for Law & we go back to the now, asking hang on did you actually pass this. Thats a good use of jumps. Its also not seen as flash backs either, its telling you the story properly.

2 little mice fall into a bucket of cream. I have used this myself to tell people about perseverance & patients & get through things. So much so that one of my friends when they are just like i cant be bothered to do something they know will help in a the long run which the do need to do to make the next thing better, i will say to them Walken says & they then go cream & mice i know. I often tell myself when i look at all the reviews i have to write (which is my own fault i know) that i am not that first mouse).

When he runs away from Amy Adams on their engagement party, she isnt concerned about the money or him being a kid or not being a doctor she is so pissed off that hes not a Lutheran. I love that. Of all the things to be angry about thats the thing that gets her.

Im guessing why this is now why we have ID for everything. No one bothered to notice that he wasnt a pilot or a doctor. Thanks god records are real now. I mean he almost gets caught out after saying he was lawyer doesnt he, good old Sheen, but he gets away with it.

When i first saw this film i had got my braces off for a retainer at the same time, so i related to Amy Adams so much. All she wanted to do was show her teeth to people which was what i wanted to do to.

Going to get the suit & car as Mr Fleming was brilliant. No one noticed that tho. How much money did they have to pay for that small clip of bond & use of the music tho. If that had been made now it would have been hundreds of millions, i know im only talking 20 years ago but still.

His mum wanting to pay off what he owes, well it is what any parent would do isnt it. I mean my parents very generously helped me out with the last bit of money i needed for my flat. I mean it was up to $12mil but you know. That is love willing to pay off your child’s debt even tho youve not seen him for about a year.

Knock Knock… I love those jokes.

I dont often take stickers off bottles but sometimes they just catch & you do you know what i mean, & whenever i now do this im like nope its not fraud for my wallet people. & its something so small too which is then just picked up a couple of other times in the film which helps them to find him. Such a tell, much like the cheques hes faking.

I love the symmetry of the bank manager. 10miutes earlier he didnt want this kid in the bank, but now hes in a suit & flying planes hes happy to see him no matter what. That shows how society really do treat people in different ways doesnt it. Put a suit on or a few letters before or after your name & you are in if not nah not here.

This film introduced me to the Flash, i had no idea who Barry Allen was. Once id seen it as a teenager i read about 30 flash comics over the next year. I should have been reading Dickens hard times (which is why that was my only crap bit on english lit work {sorry parents you know that now} i still got an A) but yeah i would be in english reading that under the desk & not Dickins.

Jennifer Garner is literally there as a slapper isnt she, however its brilliant how he turns it around & basically gets her to pay him to sleep with her, thats brilliant. I hope that was true that was so clever. As a teenager i was like the hell is going on here, but now i watch that scene & go you clever bastard.

Fondue… not enough films have fondue…

Walken in the restaurant & in that bar scene is brilliant. Proper proud dad moment, but also so full of desperation & sorrow but he has come to terms with where he now is in life & his social standing.

The bath with all those planes was brilliant i love that & then later on when hes in the hospital instead of writing up reports hes writing up cheques, not doing any work at all. I guessing after not working when he flys & is a doctor becoming a lawyer must have been hard having to actually do it.

That walk through Miami Airport with come fly with me playing & how he plans it all & tricks them all & gets onto that plane is amazing. Its iconic its so clever & i love every second of it. ITs stunning, its well shot & your just waiting for someone to spot him. I do have a question tho. What happened to all those college girls? Did he manage to get them on a plane or did he just leave them at the airport or in europe? Because when we get to mount Richard, its just him in that printing room.

I do love that printing room. Doesnt matter how rich you are or what youve done you got to make your cheques some how. This is also the exact point as a teenager when i realised how good an actor Tom Hanks is. That printer & that room theres so much stuff going on there is a mini chase, there is distractions, & yet the second Hanks yells he going to be killed he has complete control & empathy & concern & hatred in that one sentance. & its fucking epic.

I love everyones faces looking at him when he goes to work at the FBI just like the hell are you doing here, we spent most of our lives trying to catch you & now your just walking around doing our jobs for us. I love that this is what he ended up doing i really do & that our money is more secure today because of the fraud he used to do. I also love the fact that even tho ive seen this films a lot, when we get to the end after he flys off im still concerned that hes not going to come back & i am always relieved when he does sit down at the desk. Hanks panicking is on point & make that scene. HE put his neck on the line for this kid & actually cared for him & hes really like nah kid come on come into work, even tho he let him go earlier. That airport walk is lush.

Its just a bloody brilliant & fantastic films. If people ask you to recommend a straight film which doesnt require to much thinking & is just a drama, without comedy, i recon you recommend this to them. You know what you get. You smile & sit there in disbelief & then when it ends you feel happy & you know youve watch something so purely crafter. IT just makes you go yes thats what real life story films should be about.

Im pretty sure this film is part of the reason why i am a movie nerd, & cinephile & i love it for it. Cheers Steve, Tom & Leo, you made a movie monster out of me.