In theaters

CATCH ME IF YOU CAN, directed by Steven Spielberg, written by Jeff Nathanson, 140 minutes, rated PG-13.

The new Steven Spielberg movie, “Catch Me if You Can,” is based on the life of Frank Abagnale Jr., a young man who became a teacher, a pilot, a doctor, an assistant district attorney and a multimillionaire all before the age of 21.

Before some of you start questioning whether your little Johnny or Jill isn’t quite the shining star you thought they were, it’s helpful to know that Frank was a fraud and a crook, achieving his remarkable “success” through an untold number of lies and the spunk of his considerable charm.

The film, which screenwriter Jeff Nathanson based on the 1980 memoir by Frank Abagnale Jr. with Stan Redding, might not be Spielberg’s best movie, but it joins the director’s other 2002 release, “Minority Report,” in being one of last year’s best.

At its core is a performance by Leonardo DiCaprio as Abagnale that’s the polar opposite of his grim turn in “Gangs of New York” and the boring high-mindedness he displayed in “The Beach.” Here, his performance is light and effortless, so breezy that it keeps the film bubbling along in spite of a 21/2-hour running time that could have sandbagged it, yet so confident and focused that it can’t be dismissed as fluff.

Set during the mid-1960s, a time whose comparative innocence and gullibility were major factors in facilitating Abagnale’s daring series of crimes, the film chronicles Abagnale’s life from ages 16 to 25, with the 28-year-old DiCaprio fully believable at each age.

After the traumatic divorce of his parents (Christopher Walker and Nathalie Baye), Abagnale – eager to become more than just the product of their failed marriage – stumbles into his true calling as a con artist. He learns early on that sometimes all a person needs to succeed isn’t the right education but the right suit, a disarming smile, a fresh face, a smooth way with words and the chutzpah to carry on in spite of the odds life sometimes stacks against you.

As such, Frank drops out of school and begins a remarkable life of crime, forging millions of dollars in Pan Am paychecks after passing himself off as a Pan Am pilot and conning his way into the friendly skies. Colorful stints as a doctor and a lawyer follow – and so does Carl Hanratty (Tom Hanks), the lonely FBI agent determined to catch Frank if he can.

What ensues is lively and fun, a cat-and-mouse chase that crisscrosses continents and

which is deepened considerably with the bond that grows between the two men. Indeed, as the years pass, Frank and Carl develop a father-son relationship whose strength is fully revealed at the end, which offers a surprising twist that won’t be revealed here – but which would have seemed absurd if it weren’t based on fact.

Grade: A-

On video and DVD

LOVELY AND AMAZING, written and directed by Nicole Holofcener, 91 minutes, rated R.

Nicole Holofcener’s excellent film, “Lovely and Amazing,” focuses on three women and one pre-adolescent girl, all of whom live lives that quietly – and sometimes not so quietly – inspire the film’s title.

Take, for instance, Jane (Brenda Blethyn), the matriarch of the group, a woman in her mid-50s who’s so desperate to attract the attention of her handsome younger doctor, whom she secretly loves, she undergoes liposuction in an effort to streamline her body into what she feels will be a sexier, more acceptable shape. Her doctor does notice the effort, but that’s only because he’s the plastic surgeon who performed the procedure.

Deepening the film’s dysfunction is Jane’s daughter, Elizabeth (Emily Mortimer), an aspiring actress and model who hates her body, and Jane’s eldest daughter Michelle (Catherine Keener), a former high school prom queen now faced with a cheating husband, a dead career as an artist, and a body not quite as firm as she’d like it to be.

Knowing her husband is having an affair, Michelle accepts the sexual advances of a 17-year-old boy (Jake Gyllenhaal), incites the wrath of his mother, and then tries to deal with her adopted younger sister, Annie (Raven Goodwin), an African-American girl who uses pancake makeup to appear Caucasian so she could blend in with the world around her.

Unlike Callie Khouri’s “The Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” a fun cartoon, “Amazing” is less interested in nudging its audience with laughter than it is with exploring the ramifications of our culture’s objectification of women. That makes it sound heavier than it is – the film is often funny in an edgy, biting sort of way – but by the time the last reel has played, it isn’t the self-effacing humor you remember as much as it is the pain that inspired it.

Grade: A

Christopher Smith is the Bangor Daily News film critic. His reviews appear Mondays and Fridays in Style, Tuesdays and Thursdays on WLBZ 2 and WCSH 6, and are archived on RottenTomatoes.com. He can be reached at BDNFilm1@aol.com.

The Video-DVD Corner

Renting a video or a DVD? NEWS film critic Christopher Smith can help. Below are his grades of recent releases in video stores, starting alphabetically with the most current releases.

Barbershop ? B+

Lovely and Amazing ? A

XXX ? B

The Adventures of Pluto Nash-F

Ballistic: Ecks vs. Sever-F

Blood Work-B-

Trapped-C-

Baran ? A-

Minority Report ? A-

Unfaithful ? B-

Halloween: Resurrection

? F

K-19: The Widowmaker

? C+

Stuart Little 2 ? A-

Austin Powers in Goldmember ? B-

Lilo & Stitch ? B+

Ice Age ? B

Men in Black II ? C-

Sunset Boulevard (DVD)

? A+

Reign of Fire ? C+

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron ? B+

Thirteen Conversations About One Thing ? A

Bad Company ? D

The Importance of Being Earnest ? B-

Star Wars: Attack of the Clones ? C+

The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys ? B-

The Powerpuff Girls Movie ? B

Pumpkin ? C+

The Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood ? B+

Eight Legged Freaks ? B

Spider-Man ? A-

Sum of All Fears ? D

E.T.: 20th Anniversary Edition ? A

Mr. Deeds ? D

Insomnia ? A

Life or Something Like It

? B-

Scooby-Doo ? C-

Windtalkers ? C-

Big Trouble ? D

Enough ? C-

Jason X ? Bomb

Brotherhood of the Wolf

? B

The Scorpion King ? B

Enigma ? C

Monsoon Wedding ? A-

Murder by Numbers ? C

Death to Smoochy ? B+

40 Days and 40 Nights ? C-

Monsters, Inc. ? A-

Panic Room ? B Changing Lanes ? B

Count of Monte Cristo ? B+

Frailty ? C-

Blade II: B+

High Crimes ? C

Queen of the Damned ? C-

Iris ? B

Joe Somebody ? D

The Rookie ? A-

The Sweetest Thing ? D+

We Were Soldiers ? B+

Birthday Girl ? B

The Business of Strangers

? B

Clockstoppers ? C

In the Bedroom ? A

The New Guy ? D

Showtime ? C+

Deuces Wild ? D-

Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring ? B+

Collateral Damage ? D

Dragonfly ? D

Resident Evil ? C-

Crossroads ? C-

Kung Pow: Enter the Fist: B-

The Time Machine ? D-

Amelie ? A

John Q. ? C-

Pinero ? B

Charlotte Gray ? B+

Hart’s War ? B

Royal Tenenbaums ? B+

Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius

? B+

Shallow Hal ? C

A Beautiful Mind ? B

Gosford Park ? B+

I Am Sam ? C

The Majestic ? D-

Max Keeble’s Big Move ? B

Orange County ? C-

The Shipping News ? C

Rollerball ? F

Black Hawk Down ? B

Kate & Leopold ? C+

Monster’s Ball ? A

The Mothman Prophecies ? C

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone ? B 3/4

Sidewalks of New York ? B-

Lantana ? A

Vanilla Sky ? B+

Corky Romano ? D-

>From Hell ? C

The Others ? B+

Snow Dogs ? B-

Ocean’s Eleven ? B

Waking Life ? A

Ali ? B+

Not Another Teen Movie ? C-

Behind Enemy Lines ? C-

No Man’s Land ? A

Black Knight ? F

The Deep End ? A

Domestic Disturbance ? C