12. Catch Me If You Can (2002)
It is interesting that Spielberg would follow up one of his darkest and most melancholy films (A.I.) with one of his funniest and most light-hearted (Catch Me If You Can). Indeed, Catch Me If You Can is a unique film in Spielberg's ouvre, as it fails to fall into one of his two main categories (action/adventure genre films or historical dramas). Instead, Catch Me If You Can is an infectiously entertaining period yarn, telling the incredible true story of Frank Abagnale Jr., one of the most famous and successful con artists of all time. Everything in this film is firing on all cylinders starting with the cast, including one of Leo DiCaprio's best pre-Aviator performances, Tom Hanks at his loosest and funniest, a pre-fame Amy Adams and Christopher Walken at his very best. Janusz Kaminski's cinematography is lush, saturated and mouth-watering, John Williams' score is uncharacteristically jazzy and breezy, and Spielberg's direction is taught, focused and energetic, keeping the story moving along as even though it is fairly episodic, hitting on many beats in Abagnale's life and the interesting people he encounters along the way and lead up to his eventual coming of age.