Artists often strive to tie form to content. "Catch Me If You Can" excels in this endeavor by suggesting a breezy, fun film about a con man that cons the audience. Yet plodding morality cheats the promise of the film.

"Catch Me If You Can" is the "based on real adventures" story of Frank Abagnale Jr., played by Leonardo DiCaprio, who lived quite the life before his 21st birthday. Abagnale passes himself off as a substitute teacher, airplane pilot, doctor, and lawyer, all while cashing millions of dollars worth of forged checks. Tom Hanks, playing FBI agent Carl Hanratty, doggedly pursues Abagnale throughout the film. Christopher Walken steals the show as Frank's father.

The film has a lot going for it, and not many movies can boast of having Oscar-nominated actors in its three lead roles. Of the three, DiCaprio and Hanks turn in serviceable performances, though save one memorable moment in a car with his partners, Hanks is wrong for the part. Walken is wonderful, but his role is one of the major problems of the film.

"Catch Me If You Can" was adapted from Abagnale's book of his exploits —the book is a quick read, with Abagnale's ego running rampant. His exceptional self-assurance is what makes him a successful con artist. One cannot imagine an ordinary Joe casually strolling into an airport and hopping on a plane as a pilot. The film errs by expanding the role of Frank's family and Hanratty to pump up the narrative. The book is an unabashed joyride. Abagnale makes no apologies for his behavior — the people he cons should have been more cautious. The moral of the book is that a fool and his money are soon parted; the moral of the film, that Frank is lonely because of a broken-home life and tries to be other people because he is not happy with himself.

Melodrama drags "Catch Me If You Can" down. The relationship between Abagnale Sr. and Jr. is touching, particularly in meetings between the two in a fancy restaurant and a run-down bar, but has no place in a movie that celebrates the luxurious lifestyle of a con artist. The same can be said of the relationship between pursuer and pursued, where perhaps only a fine line separates them.

The film is a compromise. Half the time it gleefully follows Abagnale as he dashes from scheme to scheme, the other half tries to justify his behavior. The rationalizations for his life of crime are neither entertaining nor moving. The haphazard mixture of daring crime and lament for a lost happy childhood greatly slows the pace of a film already too long.

Movies can be breezy and entertaining. There is nothing wrong with that. This film, at a long two hours, twenty minutes, could have been far more entertaining by chopping out the deadwood melodrama and emphasizing the fun that Abagnale had living his extravagant life. If the film wanted to stress his punishment for a life of crime, then his time spent in a French prison could have been played up. By the end of the film, one is unsure whether Abagnale is to be liked or pitied.

• `A Guy Thing': Something to do
  
• `Adaptation' unlike anything else
  
• Catch another film if you can