‘Catch’ Di Caprio’s latest success

Leonardo Di Caprio and Tom Hanks give chase in the real-life crime

drama “Catch Me If You Can,” directed by Steven Spielberg from the

screenplay by Jeff Nathanson, based on the autobiographical book of

the same name by Frank Abagnale Jr. and Stan Redding.

Frank Abagnale Jr. (Di Caprio) worked as a doctor, a lawyer and as

a co-pilot for a major airline -- all before his 18th birthday. A master of deception, he was also a brilliant forger whose skill gave

him his first real claim to fame:

At the age of 17, Frank Abagnale Jr. became the most successful

bank robber in the history of the United States. FBI Agent Carl

Hanratty (Hanks) had 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 game of cat and mouse.

Spielberg directs with a flawless hand. From the beginning

credits, the sense of time and mood are set using 1960s-style

animation reminiscent of “The Pink Panther” and some of the best

music by John Williams in years that brings to mind jazzy echoes of

Mancini. The force-feeding of period eye candy by the prop master and

set decorator is forgiven when you are immersed in the ‘60s, never to

be rocked out of the fantasy by rude anachronisms.

Di Caprio is at his best in this character. Hanks is given a fun

and poignant role as a semi comical “Javert” to Di Caprio’s

“Valjean.”

Christopher Walken is wonderful as Frank’s dad, the beleaguered

optimist living vicariously through his son’s exploits. Martin Sheen

uses a marvelous drawl that makes you forget that he’s the president

in “The West Wing.”

Frank John Hughes, Jennifer Garner, Brian Howe, Nathalie Baye and

Amy Adams all satisfy, while James Brolin is James Brolin.

The script is sharp and includes many of the amazing cons

perpetrated by Abagnale. The story always remains pragmatic and never

leaps into buffoonery despite its potential to do so.

Nathanson’s script fused with Spielberg’s direction allows the

audience to effortlessly follow the evolution of thought and

motivation of young Abagnale as we see his admiration and

disappointment with his parents result in his disassociation with

legalities and his escape into fantasy.

The story entertains, even if its message is somewhat mixed. The

real Abagnale became a member of the FBI and has led a successful

life despite being a felon. He “had it all,” illegally and now

legally. Hopefully this film’s portrayal of Abagnale’s personal

losses will cause anyone entertaining the idea of copying his career

path to choose otherwise.

You should certainly catch “Catch Me If You Can” if you can.

* RAY BUFFER, 33, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.

An uncomfortable type of success

I was once told there are two kinds of characters the public wants

to see: those they identify with from personal experience, and those

they wish they could be.

Jack Nicholson’s Warren Schmidt is neither. He’s someone you’re

glad you’re not. The most impressive accomplishment of director

Alexander Payne’s “About Schmidt” is its ability to create empathy

for a character who often makes you squirm.

When we meet Warren Schmidt, he is waiting patiently for the clock

to strike 5 on his last day of work. When it does, his life becomes

instantly irrelevant.

There is nothing special about Warren. He has lived an average,

respectable life completely free of risk. Now, facing retirement at

66, he faces filling countless empty hours with a wife who has become

a stranger. His life lacks meaning, and for the first time, he can’t

ignore it.

In his first baby step toward change, Warren starts writing

letters to his “adopted” son Ngudu, an African child he sponsors

after seeing a guilt-inducing TV advertisement.

Life then throws a curve ball: The sudden death of his wife sets

Warren on a quest of self-discovery. He packs up his camper and treks

from his native Nebraska to Colorado, where he attends his daughter

Jeannie’s (Hope Davis) wedding to gentle but dimwitted loser Randall

(Dermot Mulroney).

Warren’s real motive is convincing his bullheaded daughter the

marriage would be a mistake, setting her on the same lackluster path

of his own dead-end life. If Warren can save Jeannie from his fate,

he will have done one good thing with his life.

Payne doesn’t celebrate Warren’s flaws, but he accepts and

understands them; unearthing nobility among the mundane. Payne, with

co-writer Jim Taylor, expertly uses humor to reveal character;

earning uncomfortable laughs that ring true and are also rooted in

pain. It would’ve been easier to make fun of Warren, but parody

impedes emotion.

Jack Nicholson delivers an Oscar-caliber performance, resisting

the temptation to exploit that devilish smile that has served him so

well in the past (a contrast well illustrated by a trailer for

Nicholson’s upcoming comedy with Adam Sandler, “Anger Management”). A

wise decision; that type of impish self awareness wouldn’t serve the

material well.

Nicholson’s best scenes are when Warren reaches out to Jeannie,

who strikes back with a stubborn resentment -- why the sudden

interest in her life? Warren realizes the wall Jeannie has built

around herself may have grown too thick. His best chance for meaning

may be with someone he has never met.

* ALLEN MacDONALD, 29, is currently working toward his master’s

in screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los Angeles.