Review · 4 October 2026
Catch Me If You Can (2002)Telephone English and introducing yourself
🎯 Today’s focus
Real English for the telephone — opening a call by naming yourself, checking who has answered, asking to be put through, handling whoever picks up instead, taking and leaving a message, and finishing politely. Twelve phrases you will need the next time you ring a company, or a stranger rings you, and every one of them is given in the story before it is explained.
🎬 Episode script
Transcript
4 chapters · about 10 minutes of reading🎭 Intro
Welcome back for another English movie review lesson — I’m Teacher Teddy, and today, let’s talk about Catch Me If You Can. Today’s lesson is about telephone English — the language you need when you cannot see the other person’s face, when you ring a company, and when a stranger rings you. By the end of this episode, you’ll be able to open a call, ask for the person you want, handle whoever answers instead, and finish politely. If you’re interested in a wider selection of episodes unlocking native English phrases and vocabulary pulled straight from your favourite movies, consider subscribing now.
A telephone rings in a hushed office, and somebody lifts the receiver. The voice on the other end is calm, genial, and utterly sure of itself. It belongs to a boy of sixteen, and almost every word of it is invented. If one phone call could make you anybody, who would you become?
The story begins in 1960s New York, with Frank Abagnale Junior, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Frank is sixteen. He adores his father, a charming salesman quietly sliding into ruin. When his parents’ marriage collapses, Frank bolts with a chequebook, an immaculate suit, and an accomplished telephone manner.
🏠 Plot & how the story is told
The story begins in 1960s New York, with Frank Abagnale Junior, played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Frank is sixteen. He adores his father, a charming salesman quietly sliding into ruin. When his parents’ marriage collapses, Frank bolts with a chequebook, an immaculate suit, and an accomplished telephone manner.
He grasps something crucial at once: on the telephone, nobody can see you. So the first rule on the phone is that you say who you are, straight away. Not “I am Frank” — we say “Hello, this is Frank Abagnale.”
Use “this is” for yourself. Use “is that” for the other person: “Is that Mr Miller?” One phrase names you; the other checks them.
Frank rings the Pan Am offices and poses as a student writing about pilots. He wants the press office, so he requests it plainly: “Could I speak to someone in the press office, please?”
A shorter version is “may I speak to Mr Miller?” It is the polite, everyday way to ask to be connected to the person you are ringing.
The woman who answers gives him the standard check — “Who’s calling, please?” Frank invariably has a name ready.
Then comes the switchboard. “Hold the line, please. I’ll put you through.”
“Hold the line” means wait, and don’t hang up. It is what you hear in the second of quiet before somebody transfers your call.
“I’ll put you through” means I’ll connect you to another person. Frank is put through to executives who should never have taken his call.
Sometimes the person he wants is out, and the reply is polite and rehearsed.
“I’m afraid he’s not available at the moment” is the soft, formal way of saying the person you want cannot take your call now.
It is followed by an offer: “Can I take a message?” A message is what you leave for someone who isn’t there.
As the caller, you say, “Could you ask him to call me back?” That is a polite request for somebody to return your call later.
Frank begins fielding calls himself, in a borrowed Pan Am uniform he never earned. In an office, people often answer with their surname. Carl Hanratty, the dogged FBI agent pursuing him, played by Tom Hanks, answers in one word: “Hanratty.”
And when a caller asks for you by name, the one-word reply is “Speaking.” It means you are the person they asked for.
He roams the world for free, and signs forged cheques that no bank can account for. He reinvents himself as a doctor, then a lawyer. Each new life begins the same way — with a phone call, and an assured voice saying his name.
Not every call unfolds smoothly. When a stranger answers and you expected somebody else, the phrase is “Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong number.” Frank deploys it to slip out of a room that is tightening around him, which is hardly its intended purpose.
And every call has to end. The soft way out is “I’d better let you go”, then “Thanks for calling.”
Frank is incapable of that part. On Christmas Eve, utterly alone, he rings the one person in the world who knows his real name. “Hanratty,” says Carl. “Merry Christmas, Carl,” says Frank. Neither of them wants to hang up.
Whether Carl catches him, and what the two of them come to mean to each other, I won’t divulge here.
What I can tell you is that the pursuit grows warmer as it closes in, and that the bleakest, loneliest moments all occur with a telephone in somebody’s hand.
📖 Vocabulary spotlight
This episode also has five bonus vocabulary words — the words real critics reached for when they wrote about this film, and the ones you’ll want when you talk about it yourself.
Wily means clever and cunning, good at tricking people. Critics called Frank wily rather than cruel.
Suave means smooth, charming and confident, especially a man. Reviewers called DiCaprio impossibly suave.
Natty means smart and fashionable in the way you dress. Frank is natty in every uniform he steals.
Glossy means bright, polished and expensive-looking. The film’s glossy 1960s world was praised everywhere.
Jaunty means cheerful and lively, with a spring in its step. Critics called the music and the whole film jaunty.
💬 Critic reception
Now, let’s talk about how critics have described Catch Me If You Can.
The words reviewers reach for are the five bonus words above. Critics called Frank wily rather than cruel, and reviewers called DiCaprio impossibly suave. Frank is natty in every uniform he steals, the film’s glossy 1960s world was praised everywhere, and critics called the music and the whole film jaunty.
The simplest summary is the one the episode itself gives: it’s a glossy, jaunty chase that conceals a genuinely sorrowful story about a boy and his father. For English, be warned — the 1960s American accents and the rapid telephone patter make this a real step up, and the phone calls may warrant a second pass.
⭐ The verdict
Rating
It’s a glossy, jaunty chase that conceals a genuinely sorrowful story about a boy and his father, and I love it. For learning English, be warned: the 1960s American accents and the rapid telephone patter make this a real step up, and the phone calls may warrant a second pass. Listen twice, and you’ll hear what a calm voice can accomplish.
Intermediate · CEFR B1
📚 Study tools
Learning focus recap
Twelve telephone phrases from the episode, each with the line it came from — plus the five bonus words.
The phrase you use to give your own name on the phone, instead of “I am”.
Not “I am Frank” — we say “Hello, this is Frank Abagnale.”
The phrase you use to check who the other person on the phone is.
Use “this is” for yourself. Use “is that” for the other person: “Is that Mr Miller?”
A polite way to ask to be connected to the person you are ringing.
A shorter version is “May I speak to Mr Miller?”
The standard question that asks a caller to give their name.
The woman who answers gives him the standard check — “Who’s calling, please?”
To wait on the phone and not hang up.
“Hold the line” means wait, and don’t hang up.
I will connect you to the other person on the phone.
“I’ll put you through” means I’ll connect you to another person.
A polite way to say the person you want cannot take the call now.
The reply is polite and rehearsed: “I’m afraid he’s not available at the moment.”
An offer to write down what you want to say to someone who is out.
“Can I take a message?” A message is what you leave for someone who isn’t there.
A polite request for somebody to return your call later.
As the caller, you say, “Could you ask him to call me back?”
The one-word reply that means you are the person the caller asked for.
When a caller asks for you by name, the one-word reply is “Speaking.”
A polite way to tell a caller they have rung the wrong person.
The phrase is “Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong number.”
A gentle way to begin ending a phone call.
The soft way out is “I’d better let you go”, then “Thanks for calling.”
A simple way to remember it all: open with this is for your own name and is that for theirs. Ask with may I speak to, and expect who’s calling, please? back. The switchboard gives you hold the line and I’ll put you through. If your person is out you will hear I’m afraid he’s not available at the moment and can I take a message?, and you reply could you ask him to call me back? Answer for yourself with speaking, escape a wrong call with you’ve got the wrong number, and close gently with I’d better let you go.
📖 Bonus words
Wily
Clever and cunning, good at tricking people.
Suave
Smooth, charming and confident, especially a man.
Natty
Smart and fashionable in the way you dress.
Glossy
Bright, polished and expensive-looking.
Jaunty
Cheerful and lively, with a spring in its step.
✏️ Practice
Fill in the blank
0 of 5 correctType the missing word or phrase from this episode, then check. Stuck? Tap Hint to see three options.
Not “I am Frank” — on the phone we say “Hello, Frank Abagnale.”
To check who has answered, you ask “ Mr Miller?”
The switchboard says “, please” when it wants you to wait and not hang up.
When a caller asks for you by name, the one-word reply is “.”
A short, polite way to be connected is “ Mr Miller, please?”
🧠 Check you understood
Comprehension questions
0 of 6 answeredOn the telephone, how do you give your own name?
- You use “is that”, which is the phrase that checks who the other person is
- You use “this is”, as in “Hello, this is Frank Abagnale”, right away
- You use “speaking”, the one-word reply to a caller who has asked for you
What is the switchboard asking you to do with “hold the line”?
- To wait on the phone and not hang up while the call is being transferred
- To say your own name clearly before you ask to speak to anybody else
- To ring back later, because the person you wanted has gone home already
What does “I’ll put you through” tell the caller?
- That the person they wanted has already left a message for them to collect
- That they have rung the wrong number and had better try a different one
- That they are about to be connected to another person on the telephone
Somebody rings for a colleague who is out. What do you offer them?
- “Who’s calling, please?” — the standard check on a caller’s name
- “Can I take a message?” — an offer to write down what they want to say
- “I’d better let you go” — the gentle way of beginning to end a call
How does Carl Hanratty answer his office telephone?
- With a full sentence, giving both his own name and the office he works for
- With the question “Who’s calling, please?”, before he says anything else
- With one word — his own surname, “Hanratty”, and nothing more at all
Which phrase does the episode give as the soft way to end a call?
- “I’d better let you go”, said just before you finish the conversation
- “Sorry, I think you’ve got the wrong number”, said to a stranger
- “May I speak to Mr Miller, please?”, said when you have just rung up
✍️ Your turn
Try it yourself in the comments
At the start I asked who you would become if one phone call could make you anybody. Frank chose a pilot, a doctor and a lawyer, because his family had fallen apart. Do you blame him? Write two sentences in the comments here or on the website, using a phrase from today’s lesson, or one of the five bonus words.
For example: “Hello, this is Frank. May I speak to Mr Miller, please? — I’m afraid he’s not available at the moment. Can I take a message?”Write a comment ↓📚 Keep learning
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