When Frank Abgnale Jr. turned 16 years old Dad who had always been quite well off got into trouble with the IRS and lost all the things his money had bought like the nice house and new cars. Now forced to move to an apartment his parents begin to have martial problems that lead them to a divorce. Frank who was already kind of a conman as he had impersonated a substitute teacher for a week at his new school cannot face his parents split up. So when he runs away from home he finds himself strapped for cash and a place to live. He has started passing bad checks but now they are not accepting them anymore and so when he sees an airline pilot and how respected they are he comes up with a bold scheme. Through a variety of scams he manages to get a pilot’s uniform, ID card, and even a FAA license, which are all fake. So impersonating as a pilot he flies around the world from city to city-opening new accounts and passing even more worthless checks. But the checks are so small he decides to expand and begins to make his own airline paychecks in much larger amounts. But his check passing scams have not gone unnoticed and now an FBI agent Carl is hot on his trail so he abandons the air and settles down in Atlanta. But he cannot turn up the chance to impersonate another profession and makes himself and Doctor and works in a hospital for 11 months. In the meantime Carl is still-hunting him and again his scam is uncovered and he must run again. This time he runs to New Orleans and makes himself a Lawyer and even prosecutes in the State’s Attorneys Office. But Carl will not give up chasing him so Frank runs to Europe where he begins to make his own checks again, in the end he will end up passing over four million dollars in counterfeits before he is caught.

This is the tale of probably the best conman and check frauder ever. The real Frank would serve 5 years in prison before being recruited by the FBI to help them catch other check kiters. The movie is absolutely stunning and amazing as the story is so rich and incredible you cannot help but be blown away with the scams Frank thought of pulling. Leonardo DiCaprio plays Frank and probably puts in his best acting performance since the days when he was unknown. He makes a dashing Frank and a great conman as he has the personality of Frank who used his charm and looks to pull off a lot of his crimes. Tom Hanks also puts in a stellar performance as Carl the FBI agent chasing him. Hanks just has the skills to pull of this dour and grumpy character to perfection as he chases endlessly after Frank. And while the acting is great it is the story that totally makes this movie worthwhile since most of it is true. Steven Spielberg weaves together a great masterpiece of action and adventure while at the same time making you laugh through much of the movie. This movie is a definite holiday treat and Christmas present as it is so enthralling and amazing you may want to see it a second time. And while the movie differs somewhat from the book Frank Abgnale has said the movie is probably closer to what happened than the book. Go see it.
4.5 stars out of 5