Catfish (2010) PG-13

I'm going to keep this review short, because there's only so much I can say without giving anything away. For those of you who probably don't know a single thing about this film, it's a documentary. Although there's speculation that this film is a "mockumentary" or fake, the filmmakers still claim it's 100% real. Whether it's fake or real matters none to me. This is an interesting cautionary tale with a few twists and turns along the way. New York City filmmakers Henry Joost and Ariel "Rel" Schulman begin documenting Yaniv "Nev" Schulman's (Rel's brother) Facebook relationship with a Michigan family. Why they first began filming in the first place is beyond me, but it paid off.

Nev is a photographer and about a year ago he received a painting in the mail. The painting was a replica of a photo he took, which made the front page of a local magazine. The painting came with a letter from an eight year old girl named Abby. Soon after, they become Facebook friends. Nev also becomes friends with Abby's attractive step-mother Angela and a number of other relatives of Abby.

Abby continues to send paintings, which are extremely good for an eight year old. After a little while, Angela introduces Nev to her other daughter Megan. Megan and Nev IM and text each other often. They rarely talk to each other on the phone. They start what could be called a long-distance relationship, but they have yet to meet. Megan is cute, successful, talented, creative and perfect for Nev (or so he says).

Nev still hasn't spoken to Abby in person, but thinks nothing of it. Nev has talked a few times to Angela, and seems impressed by her. Rel, Henry and Nev go to Colorado to film and shoot a film. Nev wants desperately to meet the family, especially Megan, but they're busy as always and are unavailable. While in their hotel room, Megan sends one her original songs to Nev. They're all shocked by how good it is. The problem is that she just took a live acoustic song off YouTube and said it was hers. Nev begins to feel regret and doubt over the whole situation. What else has she lied about? Who is this person? Is she even a girl? It's not long before they find one lie after another.

Rel and Henry won't let Nev just end the relationship with the Michigan family. Reluctantly, Nev agrees to go along with their plans. So, they set out on a journey to Michigan to find the truth. Sometimes the truth is best left unknown. The first half of this film is funny, interesting, tense and quite entertaining. There were a few scenes where I actually thought an axe-murderer was going to jump out and kill the three friends. But the second half of the film, where the truth is revealed, is dissatisfying and sickening to be honest.

I sure hope this film is real and not fake, because the plot gets ridiculous towards the end. It gets a little predictable, but that's nothing new. If you're wondering about the title, that will be revealed near the end of the film. The filmmakers didn't want to give anything away with the title and stuck with Catfish (which was suggested by a friend). If you use Facebook regularly or any other social network/dating service for that matter, then you might want to check this out. You never know who's out there lurking in the shadows. The Internet is a scary place when used without caution. What ever happened to the old face-to-face? It's so easy to misinterpret what other people are saying when IMing, texting and sometimes talking on the phone. We are so dependant on technology that it sometimes leads to trouble.
B-