The Couch Critics
The Couch Critics is your laid-back guide to movies and TV shows that deserve your attention—or maybe don’t. Nathan, along with a rotating door of eclectic co-hosts, dives deep into storytelling, character development, and cinematic style with a sharp eye and a wry sense of humor. Whether it’s a blockbuster hit, a hidden gem, or a cult classic, Nathan’s relatable approach ensures every episode feels like a cozy chat with a friend who just happens to love film. Perfect for casual watchers and cinephiles alike, The Couch Critics bring thoughtful critique without the fluff. Grab your favorite snack, settle in, and let Nathan and friends guide you through the world of screen entertainment.
The Couch Critics
Con Artists and Christmas Calls: Catch Me If You Can
What makes a Christmas movie truly deserving of the title? That's the question we tackle head-on as we dive into Steven Spielberg's 2002 masterpiece "Catch Me If You Can" starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Tom Hanks. This fascinating cat-and-mouse thriller follows teenage con artist Frank Abagnale Jr. as he successfully impersonates doctors, lawyers, and airline pilots while being pursued by determined FBI agent Carl Hanratty.
The film boasts an extraordinary cast delivering career-defining performances. Christopher Walken particularly surprised us with his nuanced portrayal of Frank Sr., moving beyond his typical quirky persona to create a complex, flawed father figure with genuine emotional depth. We also spotted early career appearances by Elizabeth Banks, Jennifer Garner, Amy Adams, and Ellen Pompeo in supporting roles, creating an impressive ensemble that elevates every scene.
While "Catch Me If You Can" has long been celebrated as a compelling true story, we explore recent revelations suggesting many of Frank Abagnale Jr.'s most impressive claims were exaggerated or entirely fabricated. Perhaps most relevant to our Christmas movie debate: those Christmas Eve phone calls that serve as the film's tenuous holiday connection? They likely never happened at all. Despite these historical inaccuracies, the film remains a masterclass in storytelling, direction, and performance that earns our 4/5 rating as a general film—though only a meager 1/5 as a Christmas movie.
Whether you're revisiting this classic or discovering it for the first time, join us for this thoughtful analysis of what makes "Catch Me If You Can" work so brilliantly despite its questionable Christmas credentials and creative approach to "based on a true story." And don't forget to send us your movie suggestions through the text link in our show notes—we're always ready to watch what you recommend!
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On the couch. We're laughing, crying, feeling it all, breaking down the big screen, the hits and the flaws. Grab your seat, press play, let's take the pic. Lights, camera action. It's the Couch Critics.
Speaker 2:Hello everybody and welcome to a brand new episode of the Couch Critics. I am your host, Nathan, and on today's episode it is not Katie and I. I was hoping that Katie would join us on this episode, but it is also not me by myself, because those are always really, really short episodes. I have my good friend mitch. Hey, mitch, what's up?
Speaker 2:how you doing, doing good good, yeah, we're, we're both teachers and by the time we're recording this it is about nine o'clock and we got. We got to go to bed because we got to wake up early, but I wanted to record because I always want to try to release episodes when they're supposed to be released, and this is no exception. We are on our christmas journey, through about 100 christmas movies, this very long journey. Some movies are obviously christmas, like a charlie brown christmas and a christmas story and things like that. But then there's always those movies that you just kind of you scratch your head and you're like, okay, I can kind of understand. Maybe, if you stretch the meaning of christmas movies, I can kind of understand. But at the same time I don't understand fully why this movie that we're talking about tonight is, or talking about today, is considered worthy of this list. And that movie is Catch Me If you Can. Now, before we talk about our likes and dislikes and whether this is actually a Christmas movie or not, I have to go over the synopsis. Barely 17, yet. Frank is a skilled forger who has passed as a doctor, lawyer and pilot. Fbi agent Carl becomes obsessed with tracking down the con man who only revels in the pursuit Catch Me, if you Can, came out in 2002.
Speaker 2:Crazy, and it stars Leonardo DiCaprio, tom Hanks, christopher Walken and Martin Short short. This movie, first off, is stacked with talent. You got steven spielberg who directed it, you got again leonardo di caprio, tom hanks I completely forgot that christopher walken was in this movie and he is brilliant, like he's not just his stereotypical Christopher Walken, christopher Walken, he, he has actual like acting moments and very dramatic moments and I loved it. So that is like my number one, like how stacked this movie is and how well the talent does in this movie. It is a very good movie. It's very well done, very well acted. The story is very compelling. It's somewhat based on a true story, even though I think Mitch himself said that they started poking holes in whether this actually happened or not, and we'll kind of go deeper into that. So, mitch, what did you think of Catch Me, if you Can?
Speaker 3:I have loved this movie since it came out. It's one of those ones that, like you said, for everything you already mentioned stellar cast, stellar direction, great score. John Williams, you know it, has his nice flair to it. It's just a very compelling story. You know Leonardo DiCaprio is Frank Jr. And it just a very compelling story. You know Leonardo DiCaprio is Frank Jr. Is you really feel for this kid? I feel like he.
Speaker 3:Everyone can relate to him for some reason in his, in his journey in this movie. And then you can also relate to Carl Carl. You know he, the person, he. You know he had he had to get him. It had to be him who got him and his pursuit of. But things happen, better movies come out, sadly.
Speaker 3:I also read the biography, quote unquote the biography that it was based on. Same name Catch me if you can, frank Abagnale Jr. I mean the book is good too. It's a little bit more detailed in terms of some of the other stuff he did growing up. He talks about how he used to flip auto parts from where his dad His dad was an auto parts salesman in the book. So he would flip things, he would take money out and do. He was Like you said, he's a con man and he lays that out very much in the book as well.
Speaker 3:The biggest thing that I loved about this movie was that it was tied to a true story. I think that that kind of elevated it to another level for me growing up. So when I found out and now especially more recently, that they have, like you said, plucked holes in the story, and it's a lot, to where he went, well, it's just a good story. That's from Gabby Nudd Jr's response. Well, it's just a good story. Well, it lost a lot for me. It lost a lot of its where I held it before. It lost where it was for me, because I think that just it took a little bit of the fun out of it.
Speaker 2:I thought that that's what made it a more compelling story. Yeah, and you know Hollywood always does that. They always take a story that is compelling, but they try to make it more compelling by, like, for instance, the whole tie in with the fact that this is a Christmas movie is the fact that they would always frank jr would always call carl at on christmas eve or around christmas time. And I was just looking up as, as you were talking, I was listening, but I was also looking up some stuff about this movie and that's like one of the biggest flaws that frank jr said that this movie had is that the fact that they made him reach out to the fbi, basically, and say, hey, I'm not telling you where I am, but merry christmas. He's like, why would I call them when they could trace calls?
Speaker 2:why he didn't want to be found ever right so the whole connection to christmas in this movie guess what? Probably never actually even happened. So I think that already kind of docks it down when it comes to the Christmas rating. Absolutely. Despite the fact that obvious like historical accuracy and Hollywood taking, you know, their leeway with what they want to do and things like that, it's still a very good movie and, yes, yes, would have made it even sweeter if, if everything they put in it actually happened, it probably would have been. It made it a little more epic. And and then the question is well, was frank jr's dad ever like a con man? I don't know, mitch, you've read the book the book.
Speaker 3:no, he was actually a very honest man.
Speaker 2:So I mean that kind of takes it out of there too, because Christopher Walken's character was playing the con man and you kind of think that that's where Frank Jr gets it from Right. And then you come to find out that in real life, no, he was just a very you know out there kind of guy and wanted to see what he could get away with. And he got away with a lot, and even like the end I mean, I know at the ending they had like, and carl and frank were friends forever, and but then you're like is that even true? Like, is that even true?
Speaker 3:it's not zero percent?
Speaker 2:true, it's not. Did he actually end up working for the FBI?
Speaker 2:That is true, that is true. Okay, good, so at least something in that movie is true. Because, yeah, all these quote unquote based on true movies, I'm actually usually a sucker for those kind of movies because, like you said, it's just a very compelling story and you're like, oh my gosh, I can't believe that actually happened. And then half the time it actually didn't happen the way they said. But again, that does not take away from the performances, it does not take away from Christopher Walken being in this movie. I mean, come on, wow.
Speaker 3:Great, two mice, two mice fall into a bucket of cream.
Speaker 2:Which mouse am I? The second one who chanted the butter, but yeah, it's just great and so I don't want to take that away. So obviously the biggest negative side has really nothing to do with the performances of the movie itself. It's just the fact that it's really not based on a true story and being marketed, or was being marketed, as based on a true story. And then it makes you like second guess all these other movies that come out, like the one with Channing Tatum that's coming out soon about the guy who hid in a Toys R Us when he was running from the law.
Speaker 2:That actually looks really compelling but, then you're like how accurate is it going to be? So all that to say, mitch, besides the fact that this movie isn't truly based on a true story, was there anything else that you did not like about this movie?
Speaker 3:Nope, it's a great movie. Yeah, it is. I could put it on right now and watch it beginning to end. It's a family favorite. We quote it all the time. I always say what's the first thing you do when your mother gives you a note when you go to school? You put it all the time. I always say you know what's the first thing you do when your mother gives you a note when you go to school? You fold it, you put it in your pocket.
Speaker 3:It's just, it's full of so many good one-liners and just great, a great performance by Leo Leo. It's another one of those performances where I thought he was at least Oscar nod worthy. In this one he's, he's compelling in everything he does. I really I don't think I've ever seen a movie where I'm like Leo, what's that one he did? Beach, maybe that one. That one was a Leo, but the anything else he's done. It's, you know, and Tom Hanks, always incredible. Christopher Walken like you said, he's not, he's not doing his s a very multifaceted character in Frank senior. And then the whole thing, the connection between Carl and Frank junior, their relationship, like what it becomes by the by the end of the movie, is still really worth watching and still it's still great cinema. Putting aside all the truth, the truth stuff, it's still great cinema.
Speaker 2:Right and they both, they cause. They both have really good character arcs.
Speaker 3:And.
Speaker 2:I mean even Christopher Walken's character, I think has a good character arc and he gets to a point where he's kind of sad to see his son doing what he's doing, but at the same time you don't know if he's really sad because he's still playing that con man character and it's's. I mean, that's that and but. But another thing about this movie that actually surprised me is there's a lot of like well-known actresses in this movie that play extremely supporting characters, so like yeah the first one was lucy, played by elizabeth banks, who just play works at a bank, and so that just took me by surprise that she was in it.
Speaker 2:and then another one that really surprised me was jennifer garner is in this movie and she's like extremely brief, like almost a cameo-esque, and then the more the more prolonged. One is, of course, amy adams, who plays brenda strong Strong, and what's really funny about this movie is that Leonardo DiCaprio is playing like a 16, 17-year-old kid and all these women think he's like in his 20s or mid-20s, late 20s, and so that brings some comedic relief in there too. But yeah, this go ahead.
Speaker 3:You missed one. You missed one.
Speaker 2:Who did I miss?
Speaker 3:The flight attendant is I.
Speaker 2:I'm blanking on the actress's name, but that's meredith gray from gray's anatomy oh see, and that, like I'm not a big, I'm not a big gray's anatomy fan, so that's probably why I missed that right.
Speaker 3:I mean like talk about brief, like that's a really small part.
Speaker 2:It's a great movie. Go watch it. If you haven't seen it before, I don't know if I would sit and watch it again, like Mitch just said. Hey, I feel like watching it. I don't know if it holds that much weight to it. I hadn't watched it in a while. It was a nice surprise to watch it again, because I didn't remember how well the performances were and things like that. So it is very much worth the watch if you've never seen it before. But yeah, so that is, catch Me If you Can. But the big question, mitch, since we're on a Christmas movie journey, what would you rate this movie as a Christmas?
Speaker 2:movie A negative two and try not to think about the fact that the whole calling each other on Christmas didn't actually happen, the fact that they put it in there to make that connection. What are you thinking?
Speaker 3:Just because there's a Christmas scene in a movie and the word scene is very important here A Christmas scene doesn't make it a Christmas movie. This is one of those things. Yes, it is the, it's the, the, the running gag, the, the, the through line through the whole film. But no, it does not make it a Christmas movie. And for that, yeah, negative two, you know, 0.25. If we're being really honest, if we're being really honest.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I'm sticking to that one. 0.25. Yeah, because it reminds me of the movie about a boy. I don't know if you've ever seen that movie. We talked about that one a couple episodes ago, like a couple couple episodes ago. He wants you to go back and listen to it. It was basically the same thing as this movie. Except with that movie is just the fact that hugh grant's character's father wrote a Christmas song and that's the only Christmas part. And then I guess the movie ends like there's two Christmas scenes where they are celebrating Christmas. So, yeah, I think we gave that pretty low on the Christmas rating and this one's going to get the same kind of low rating.
Speaker 2:I'm not going to give it a .25 because I do believe that. Because it a 0.25, because I do believe that, because I'm the type of person who tries like to see the meaning of christmas and the way they did it, and so christmas is about coming together, finding peace on joe, peace and, you know, joy to the world and all that stuff, and so I think it was kind of like a symbolic gesture. What they were doing is that they would have this commonality to come together, whether it's Frank Jr calling him or Carl calling him on Christmas. I think that's what Steven Spielberg was going for. I could ask Steven if he's listening. Steven, is that what you meant? Please send us a text. Hit that link in the show notes to respond, because I know mr spielberg is listening. But I think I really do think that that's what they were going for, and so the fact that that little hint of christmas spirit is in this movie.
Speaker 2:I'm going to give it a one out of five because I try not to go below one, unless it's a real stinker, speaking of a real stinker, which. Speaking of a real stinker, which this movie is not. Let's go to the general rating, because that's usually where I would go below one, but not with this movie. Mitch, what would you give? Catch me, if you can. A general rating.
Speaker 3:For a general rating, like maybe 10 years ago it would have gotten a higher number for me, but with all the other stuff and just the fact that there are, there's just. I've grown up, I've seen a lot more movies. Now I think it's a middle rotor for me. I would probably give it a 3.5. It's a little better than average because of the Spielberg, because of of the performances, but, like you said it honestly, I think I would continue to watch it because now the nostalgic factor.
Speaker 2:You know, if I remove the nostalgia factor it's a 3.5 well, I'm gonna give it higher than that, and it's only for one reason, right, for one reason only the fact that christopher freaking walk-in is in this movie. I completely forgot he was in there. I start watching this thing. He starts talking. I'm like, yeah, it's walking crazy. So because of that, I'm going to go slightly higher than a 3.5, and I'm going to give it a 4. I'm going to give it a 4, because, seriously, christopher Walken just blew my mind with his comedic moments and his dramatic moments. So that's why I'm giving it a four out of five. So catch me, if you can. That is our thoughts. So next tuesday we're going to be talking about the family stone.
Speaker 2:This is a movie I've never seen before. It's apparently much more christmas oriented than catch me, if you can, and this cinema sunday. So originally this is going to be a first folks. Well, not a first, really, because katie and I did this for our christmas episodes before. But originally I was going to go see caught stealing, the austin butler new movie that just came out, but then I realized I don't want to go see movies just to see them. If they're not on my list to go see them, I'm not going to go see them. I mean, I already did that with nobody too, and that was okay, it was all right. So caught stealing is not what I'm going to be watching. I I'm going to allow Mitch, my good friend Mitch, who has a very interesting taste in movies from what I've heard in the past.
Speaker 3:This is true.
Speaker 2:I'm going to allow him to decide what I'm going to watch for Cinema Sunday. So this is the moment that I wasn't going to prepare him for, but before we recorded, I told him so he could think about it. Mitch, what movie am I going to be watching first thing on my Sunday? And before you answer, it must and you might not know this it must be on either Amazon Prime, netflix, mgm Plus, because I think I have that too, and these are not shameless plugs. They're not endorsing or sponsoring the show. Those are the only. Maybe Hulu and Disney Plus. Those are the only streaming services that I have. I am not buying movies anymore. I used to have to do that. So those are the streaming services. Mitch, you can't see him right now, but he's frantically because I didn't prepare him for that part. He's frantically searching.
Speaker 3:The two that I was going to give you. Neither one of them are streaming anywhere right now, so that's fine. I was going to give you a choice between two.
Speaker 2:I probably should have said that before we started recording. But seriously, I was looking at my movie list and I'm like, caught stealing isn't on there, but next Cinema Sunday. So there's this Cinema Sunday and there's the Cinema Saturday, which I already know what I'm watching. And then there's another Cinema Sunday. That is a movie that is not on my original list, but I believe Mitch and I are both going to see it, and I'm just going to go ahead and tell you what the September 21st episode is going to be Spinal Tap 2.
Speaker 3:I'm there, man, I'm seeing it. I saw the first one with you.
Speaker 2:Even though I've seen that one a lot of times. I'm cautiously optimistic about Spinal Tap 2, but we'll see what happens. So, again, you can't see him, but it looks like Mitch is ready. So, Mitch, what am I watching? This Cinema Sunday?
Speaker 3:Alright, so I was going to. I'll give you the two movies that I was originally going to throw at you. My favorite director of all time undisputed love him to death Jason Reitman. I was going to have you watch Up in the Air, which is my favorite movie of all time, like.
Speaker 2:I George Clooney.
Speaker 3:Yes, where he fires people, he fires people. Okay, he travels. Anna Kendrick's in it, one of her first things, my favorite movie. I could talk about it forever. And I have Then my second one. It used to be my first till I saw Up in the Air, but Sofia Coppola's Lost in Translation with Bill Murray. Seen that, yes, yeah, okay. So I think you've seen this one, but it might be fun for you to go back and rewatch it. So we're going to stick with Reitman and his most famous one is available. How about Juno?
Speaker 2:It has been a while since I've seen that movie and it was very interesting to talk about it, because who stars in that movie? True, and if I call them by the name that they went by when they made this movie, I might get some flack about it because that's the society we live in, true, but I'm gonna do it anyway. Ellen page stars in that movie and I have seen it, but, again, it's been a while. I also know that dwight is also in that movie. I call him by his character name from the Office, and also Michael Cena is also in that movie and so, yes, I will be watching that.
Speaker 2:Thank you, mitch, and if you're listening to this and you ever have a movie that you want me to watch, there is. I briefly mentioned it when I was asking Mr Spielberg to reach out to us. There is a send us a text link in the show notes of this show. Just give it a click and you can reach out to us if you have questions or if you have a movie that you want us to watch. Because, yeah, not every movie is on my list. So if you name a movie, we'll watch it. We've done it before and we'll do it again, because that's what we do here on the Couch Critics Boom, where every movie gets its close-up.
Speaker 1:It's not just a movie, it's a way of life. We'll watch it together, day or night, so settle in close and don't miss a flick. This is the moment for the couch critic.
