Catfish (2010)

before doing anything lets start off with what a "Catfish" is in Internet Terminology A catfish is someone who pretends to be someone they're not using Facebook or other social media to create false identities, particularly to pursue deceptive online romances.

Now professional critics have claimed that this film was "Jawdrobing", "Gripping"
and "More Killer Suspense then you'll find in a Dozen Thrillers!"

I personally did not think it was any of these. For people to say it was
they must not use the internet an awful alot or just be new to the internet itself.

Also I have seen this film marked as based on true events and called
"the most shocking, horrifying thriller of the passed decade!"


I don't agree with that either, like I said above sure if you don't use the internet
an awful alot or just be new to the internet itself I guess you could say it was..
personally I think this movie like many movies of its type suffer from BWP Syndrome
which stands for Blair Witch Project Syndrome. Basically what that is that they
put out one of these "Reality Thrillers" or "Reality Horror" movies as they seem to be calling them now becasue I guess they didn't like the term "Mockumentary" and the marketing
is very good but the movie itself is not and it feels like its in the wrong gene and
doesn't live up to what they said it was. Blair Witch was a prime example,another example
I would have to say was the First Paranormal Activity and of course this one.
let me set it up what this film is basically about:

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.

That is the official Plot Summary from Universal.

But basically what happens is Nev receives a painting from a 8 year old girl named
abby based off a photo he had taken. So he and Abby start up a friendship through
facebook and soon there after adds all of her apparent family members (which he then dubs
the Facebook Family) including Abby's very attractive older sister Megan, who Nev
of course starts up an online relationship with that seems to go quickly south (quickly
in movie terms apparently they were chatting for 8 Months) and him with his film maker
brother and brother's partner in film making the 3 set out to discredit Megan and her
family and discover the truth!!

when they started talking about this I knew what the story was going to be
this guy starts talking to this girl they get into a relationship and he
finds out that she is someone else. It was quite simple really to figure out
the only reason I watched the movie is I wanted to know what he finds out
is she a guy? or some 500lbs woman who can't get out of bed or what.

Now first off if some little girl messages you on the internet
don't start up a conversation with her and become "online pen pals"
chances are this isn't a little girl, I guess these guys doesn't
watch alot of TV and never hear of a little show called "To catch a Predator"
and the thing is the "family" didn't have a problem with him talking to
their 8 year old daughter. Now if some strange little girl messages me,
and said they did a painting of a photo I took and sent it to me
I would thank them but not maintain the communication for the fact
that she is a 8 year old girl. Also he is talking to the mom "Angela"
on the phone and she couldn't be happier of his interest in her daughter.
I don't know about anyone else but if someone is taking an interest in
my 8 year old I would want to know what is going on especially online.

Then shortly after (in movie time of course) he starts up an apparent
relationship with Megan and they chat for a while and then she tells
him a "fib" involving some music files and the whole lid blows off this
thing this is with in the first 20-24mins of the movie (up to this point
the Characters of NEV & Megan have been talking for about 8 months)
so everyone gets in this big up roar and Nev even exclaims and succumbs
to the cliche and says some thing like "have I been chatting to a
guy all this time?" Now I think some of the
reactions in this movie seem phony and somewhat staged.
were re shot, pre planned, and not all filmed spontaneously.
I don't know but it just seemed that way then at the time
I was thinking if she isn't who she says she is where did she
get all the photos and videos and all that stuff?

So Nev being lied to by someone on the Internet (Heavens no!
people lie on the Internet?!?) wants to stop the relationship
but the other 2 don't and actually push him to continue doing
it. Now if I had doubts about it I would have ended it
say that I feel it wasn't working out and I was having
different feelings.

Not only did they push him to continue but they set out
to disprove and dis credit this person that he met online
they end up going back and looking at some of the chats
and finding a few more fibs and the 3 of them come up
with a brilliant idea lets go to Ishpeming, Michigan
and confront this person face to face with cameras rolling!
to which I thought,"ok.. What?"

so I was thinking as these guys made their trip there
how wonderful it must be to have all kinds of money
to just drop everything and drive the 19 hours
from New York to Ishpeming, Michigan that's 1,154 miles
just becasue someone lied to you on the internet?
and I bet your thinking what does money have to do
with it? well u have 3 guys need gas for the car
and if they don't have a car they would have to rent one
round trip have to maybe stop to eat and other meals
and hotel room(s) all that that.
Hell if I could go and confront ever one who lied to
me on the Internet it would be like the end of
Jay and Silent Bob strike Back, I'd be all over the place.

Now honestly spending all this money and time
to go to Michigan to "learn the truth" X-Files style
is a waist of time in my view if they felt things
were not right Nev should have just stopped talking to
"Megan" I mean come on he was being told that
the little girl Abby had her own art gallery on
downtown main street and had sold paintings for $7000
(that's an actual price quoted in the film) No one is going
to pay some little girl $7000 for a painting she did
unless she is an artistic genius and the paintings
in the film are not worth $7000.
Also a very wise woman once said "if it doesn't make
sense it probably isn't true"

Away they arrive at "Megan's" house/horse ranch that
she supposedly bought and it looks deserted like
no one lives there so the guys get a hotel room and decide
to crash the "Sunday morning breakfast" and just show
up at the family home unannounced and demand they produce
"Megan" and come the next day that is exactly what they
do.
And to the utter surprise of the 3 guys Angela (the Mother)
doesn't look anything like her facebook picture! (gasp, shock!)
and neither does her Husband/boyfriend Vince(?)! (gasp, shock!)
rather then being the attractive facebook couple they
are presented as which was no real surprise.
Angela is actually a somewhat short, chubby woman in
her say mid 40s and the husband/boyfriend is a disheveled
scruffy looking fellow and they live with their 2
mentally & physically challenged sons.
The guys request both Megan and Abby to which a real little
girl is produced who is Abby Angela's daughter
and while speaking with Abby and her friend it is
reviled that Abby doesn't paint it is her mom
who does all the paintings (gasp which is more of a yawn
mild shock) So unable to produce an actual Megan
Angela (who is actually Megan, no shock there) being faced
with Nev and his friends being there in person tries to get
rid of her fake identity by saying she had checked into some
type of clinic for alcoholism! LOL!!

but in the end she comes clean about who she is
and all her secrets about the world of Megan
the actual "Facebook" Megan is some model from Washington
that is where she had gotten all the pictures from.

After the big reveal which wasn't big at all it was suspected
from the beginning. I was thinking about the motivation why would
she do this? what was her reason? but then I thought of the
quote from the Dark Knight the story that Alfred tells Bruce
about the Bandit in Burma stealing the rubes.
and he tells Bruce after he questions why steal them if your
just going to throw them away he tells him:
"Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't
looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought,
bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the
world burn." Which means people will do things just for the
sake of doing them there doesn't have to be a reason.

Now after thinking about that they do come up with a reason
apparently she was using it as an escape from her real life
she apparently was unpleased with some of the choices in her life
that were made some of the things she did or didn't do, so she apparently
was living vicariously through this "Megan" creation becasue she had
the life that Angela wanted and wished she had.

During the end of the move after all things were
reviled Nev seemed to have this sense of pride like he
solved one of mankind's greatest mysteries by exposing this
person for the fraud that they were. he was asking her questions
like "were you hoping you would get caught"
he was acting like he was the worlds greatest detective
and trust me this Nev guy is no Sherlock Homes
and he is surely no Batman. If he was truly so smart
it wouldn't have taken him 8-9 months. hell it took
the 3 of them all that time. He could have
done many things to figure out the truth if he really
wanted to in the first month or week instead of embarking
on this stupid crusade.

Also I found it quite odd that out of all the millions and
millions of people on Facebook that she picked him?
and I also found it odd that she was somewhat so close to him
they just lived like a days drive away? isn't that kind of
convenient? What would he have done if she lived in Texas
or Los Angles? or hell in Vancouver, Canada? or even
over in London England? would they hop on a plane
and leave the USA just to prove someone on Facebook
is not who they say they are?
Also what is up with that Nev guy there were quite a
few times he was on camera with his hand down his pants?
what the hell man? I don't need to see you touching you
junk on camera.

In the end this movie was yes, stupid.
predictable from the get go.
this was not:
"Jawdrobing", "Gripping", it was not a
thriller and did not have one lick of suspense.
it was not "Marvelous" or "Engrossing".
its certainly not the "Most intriguing film of the year."
it definitely wasn't "full of surprises"
and surely not "One of the most haunting movies around"
in short this movie is none of the above it is just
a very sad and rather pathetic film.

Sure its all that stuff if you don't use the internet
at all and you don't know anything about it.

they seem like they are trying to expose some sort
of seedy underbelly type of thing but this is
far from it, people do this all the time. I know
people who do what she did and are far better at it
then she could ever hope to be.

Also the people in this film don't come off as being
all that intelligent. She was in my view smarter then
him and his friends put together.
He has to learn how to use the internet property
I for one take it all at face value, if someone I'm talking
to online says they are this, that and the other thing
I'm not going to go out of my way to discredit or disprove
what they said, I'm not going to mount a crusade to
this persons house just to prove that what they say
is untrue. That in itself is crazy.
So in the end I say the guys were more crazy then she was

My final opinion This movie was actually nothing..its basically
a movie about 2 people meeting on Facebook and one of them
is not truthful (Now I'm sure he told her alot of stuff that
wasn't truthful) and one of them setting out to prove
that the other lied and getting it all on camera.

also this movie from my view has 2 messages one good and one bad
1. Be careful who you talk to online, which is true.
but
2. it gives the wrong impression that everyone will or anyone online
will lie to you and anyone who is for example attractive is actually
either a fat guy or some middle age woman. Which is unfair to a
certain point.

but as always if u want to watch go ahead but it was nothing I
haven't seen before.