Catfish (2010)
Average Rating: 7.2/10
Reviews Counted: 140
Fresh: 113 | Rotten: 27
Catfish may tread the line between real-life drama and crass exploitation a little too unsteadily for some viewers' tastes, but its timely premise and tightly wound mystery make for a gripping documentary.
Average Rating: 6.7/10
Critic Reviews: 29
Fresh: 23 | Rotten: 6
Catfish may tread the line between real-life drama and crass exploitation a little too unsteadily for some viewers' tastes, but its timely premise and tightly wound mystery make for a gripping documentary.
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User Ratings: 23,605
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Movie Info
In late 2007, filmmakers Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost sensed a story unfolding as they began to film the life of Ariel's brother, Nev. They had no idea that their project would lead to the most exhilarating and unsettling months of their lives. A reality thriller that is a shocking product of our times, Catfish is a riveting story of love, deception and grace within a labyrinth of online intrigue.-- (C) Official Site
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All Critics (141) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (113) | Rotten (27) | DVD (3)
If you begin with the premise that all films, docs and dramas, are constructs of one sort or another and it's the how and why that's important, you'll have fun pulling this apart.
Top CriticIt must be said that the filmmakers, who profess to be as surprised as we are about how things play out, are being disingenuous at best and underhanded at worst.
And you thought MySpace was scary.
The film tells a devastating story that couldn't be more relevant to our times, who we are in real life versus the way we present ourselves online.
At the end of this exquisitely poignant film, it's clear we humans are going to need a refreshed emotional skill set if we're to make sense of the real relationships we forge in our virtual worlds.
There are some creepy chuckles to be had from this allegedly true account.
Fascinating, if far-fetched film of a real life game of online Liar's Poker exposing the perils of Internet romance.
Catfish is a unique documentary - like Capturing The Friedmans, it starts as one thing and mutates into a completely different, terrifying animal halfway through.
Socially interesting and emotionally affecting, but also highly irritating.
It's gripping, heartfelt and occasionally laugh-out-loud funny, only let down by a directionless ending.
Catfish certainly feels real enough to leave you with a stunned feeling at its finale and a nagging suspicion that the world is an even stranger place than you imagined.
I was utterly enthralled from the first frame to the last.
Worth seeing.
Something here really smells just like the word used in the title.
Whether its real or not is irrelevant. Catfish is an amazing, tense, charming, soulful, utterly surprising portrait about technology & psychology
I applaud the makers of Catfish for the way in which they've made and marketed their movie. They're selling it as something different... and that's a big reason why I liked it.
The true, almost nightmarish beauty of Catfish is the all too crystal clear mirror it holds up to its audience.
If Inception had you jokingly wonder what is real and what is fake, Catfish will have you frantically scrambling around for totems to spin just to double check the veracity of the existence of yourself and the people around you.
Starting like any amateur video of a family member, Catfish is so poorly shot we could be excused for thinking that it was made to look as amateur as possible to enhance its street cred as a 'real find'
The trouble is the filmmakers seem to be stylists and opportunists; Catfish has the slick gloss of hipster media magazine journalism. Its deeper questions are never probed.
It's a stunning dismantling of Facebook and the society of the spectacle (thanks, Debord) that goes along with it.
Catfish reveals in the most surprising of ways why a social network created by a lonely teenage introvert is, in a word, fishy.
The core story might be legitimate, but too much of the film is so blatantly staged that it is impossible to imagine this is a genuine record of life unfolding.
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Latest News on Catfish
May 7, 2012:
Catfish Directors Join The Monkey Wrench GangHenry Joost and Ariel Schulman are attached to adapt Edward Abbey's 1975 novel about a quartet of...
May 5, 2011:
The Next Paranormal Activity Sequel Looks Fishy"Paranormal Activity 3" is on the way, with "Catfish" directors Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman at...
October 5, 2010:
The Woman Behind Catfish's MysteryNow that "Catfish" is a buzzy hit and one of the better-reviewed films of the year, you can expect...
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Filmmakers Rel Schulman and Henry Joost find themselves in the midst of a film project, tracing an online romance between Rel's brother Nev and a female artist on Facebook. Everything doesn't add up though as the women's real identity becomes in question and her stories don't seem to make sense. Is she really who she says she is?...
After a slow beginning, we are soon informed of where this documented drama is heading and the path it takes becomes dark and intriguing. Prime candidate for mockery, Nev Schulman, is a good sport. He very rarely shy's away from what is ultimately a major piss take of his trust in people. But what it also does, is remind ourselves (or those who use social networking sites) that everything is not as it seems when interacting with faceless names. For those who haven't seen it, I won't give too much away, but it shows the frailties in Internet use, as well as, the frailties in ourselves. The revelation of the strange events is quite awakening but is everything we told even true in itself? Some people took this documentary quite literally. I, however, had to wonder whether it was a double cross. I believed it to a point but there were so many chance happenings that were caught conveniently on camera that it couldn't all have been purely documented.
Questions remain as too how authentic the film actually is but as a social commentary it's message still stands. Despite some inconstancies it remains cleverly constructed.