Review of Catfish (2010) by Tyler H — 13 Mar 2012

Catfish is a really weird name for this really weird movie. It doesn't fit at all until almost the very last scene. A more appropriate movie title would have been The Real Facebook Movie.

To tell you the truth I haven't seen The Social Network. I have no desire to see that movie. I could care less how Facebook came into existence. You know what's more interesting? Seeing what kinds of things Facebook is capable of in the hands of people who are not all mentally there.

That's what catfish is about.

The idea of a disconnected reality is something that fascinates me. This movie is all about that. Nothing is as it seems and it all turns out much creepier than you thought it would.

It's a about a guy named Nev who starts communicating with a young painter named Abby. As he talks to Abby he gets to know her family and eventually starts to build a relationship with her older sister Megan.

But the relationships are mostly developed on Facebook.

There are phone calls and text messages but Nev and Megan never meet face to face. As things progress Nev starts to realize that he might not be seeing things the way he though he was.

The truth about Abby and her family is creepy. That might not be the right word. Because it goes beyond being creepy for one very big reason.

This is all a true story.

The tagline for this movie is "It's not based on a true story. It is a true story.".

Nev shares an office with his brother and a friend. His brother and friend are filmmakers and they start to document Nev's Facebook relationships. I'm glad they did; this is a very interesting movie.

The fact that what happens in this film really happened is very strange. The more Megan's story starts to unravel the more uncomfortable you feel. When the story is finally over you don't feel good about the situation at all. You still feel that uneasiness inside of you. Yes, it's possible that uneasiness comes from the simulated butter flavoring they put on the popcorn but for me it came from the movie.

Those people were real. The movie is over but those people are still out there using Facebook and having screwed up lives.

Nev did not seem the same after it was all over. It could be the editing. It could be he was having the a bad day. But finding out a special relationship you had is not at all what you thought, is not something you easily shrug off.

There isn't any reason not go see this movie. There is almost no cursing and no sex scenes. The worst it gets is some sexy text messages. Nothing that should stop you from watching this.

You should go see this movie.