Advertising executive Daniel Corban (Patrick Duffy) and his new wife Elizabeth are spending their honeymoon in a remote Catskill mountain lodge. Only 2 weeks since they tied the knot, it seems an idyllic way to celebrate but clearly something has broken the spell. We open on Daniel once again phoning the local detective to see if there has been any news of Elizabeth’s disappearance; she stormed out of the lodge after a drunken row over music choices and has not been seen since. Inspector Levine (Gray O’Brien) assures Corban that he is doing all he can, but over Labour Day weekend it is not uncommon for people to take off and spend time alone, even if they are recently married.
Corban is unconvinced that this is simply a tiff gone wrong and insists on more attention on his case, attention which Levine can ill-afford, however when Elizabeth suddenly returns accompanied by Father Kelleher, (Ben Nealon) we are left in no doubt that something is strangely amiss. To Corban, THIS Elizabeth (Linda Purl) is not his wife. THIS Elizabeth insists she is the same woman who left the lodge a few days ago, she seems to know all the details of their courtship and wedding and even has the keys to their car, but Corban is totally convinced she is an imposter.
This is only the beginning of a truly baffling train of events in which nothing is as it seems and no-one is as they appear. As with many stories it is money, passion and greed that sit at the heart of everything, but whose greed is not always clear.
Duffy is wonderful at spinning between total conviction and wracked with self-doubt, Purl is simply divine as the femme fetale and O’Brien evokes all the 50’s and 60’s film noir detective style.
Written by Jack Weinstock and Willie Gilbert and Directed by Bob Thomson, Catch Me if You Can Packed is with twists and surprises, cross and double cross; the only thing missing is someone stepping out of a shower and finding it was all a dream.