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Catfish

Play trailer 1:51 Poster for Catfish PG-13 Released Oct 29, 2010 1h 28m Documentary Drama Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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80% Tomatometer 156 Reviews 71% Popcornmeter 25,000+ Ratings
When Nev Shulman, a New York photographer, receives a Facebook request from a child named Abby, he cannot guess the unusual odyssey on which he will soon embark. Abby sends Nev an unusually skilled painting based on one of his photos. Intrigued, he begins online relationships with the rest of Abby's family, including her older sister, Megan. Though troubling inconsistencies soon emerge, Nev continues his online flirtation with Megan, resulting in a road trip to meet her in person.
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Catfish

Catfish

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Critics Consensus

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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Critics Reviews

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Nicolas Rapold Film Comment Magazine In a classic case of filmmakers prioritizing their own pitch over the actual goods, Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost put Schulman's toothy-grinned brother Nev front and center as he investigates his fishy long-distance Facebook crush. Nov 12, 2013 Full Review Dave Calhoun Time Out 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. Rated: 4/5 Dec 21, 2010 Full Review Tim Robey Daily Telegraph (UK) The film begs lots of questions about how, and when, it became clear any of this was worth documenting, but it certainly was. Rated: 4/5 Dec 16, 2010 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review If you should enter a screening of Catfish without much idea of what you’re getting into, chances are you’ll be unsure about what you just saw. Rated: 3/4 Aug 3, 2023 Full Review Rene Jordan El Nuevo Herald (Miami) Catfish lives off it secrets and is impossible to analyze without undoing the tapestry of lies in which it is based. [Full review in Spanish] Jul 14, 2022 Full Review Richard Propes TheIndependentCritic.com A difficult film to market given that the film's climactic big reveal is the film's real selling point. Rated: 2.0/4.0 Sep 5, 2020 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Jeff M Not only will I be adding this to my ten best list of 2010, it will also be going on my list of best documentaries ever. I guess it should be as no surprise since one of the listed producers is Andrew Jarecki, who made my #1 favorite documentary of all time, CAPTURING THE FRIEDMANS. This is an expertly made film that unravels like the best of mysteries, and curveballs are thrown from every angle, literally till the very last moments. I'm not going to say much more because the beauty of this film is the experience itself. It's not flashy, it's often subtle, and it's beautifully edited at a brisk 94 minutes. My emotions were all over the map throughout this documentary, and I literally wound up with my mouth agape on more than one occasions. This is a timely, eye-opening motion picture that is not to be missed. And even though the subject matter isn't as sensationalistic as many recent documentaries, it packs one heck of a punch. Can't wait to watch it again. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 02/06/24 Full Review Audience Member Over 10 years later and this is a very eye-opening documentary about the surprises and shocking revelations of talking to strangers online. I watched it a few years ago. Two guys are on a road trip to find a girl named Abbey, one of them Nev Shulman has been socializing with online. They’ve been in a virtual relationship. It appears too good to be true considering how beautiful she is; she wants to do a face-to-face encounter. So both guys set out to find her for real. What they discover is way more than they bargained for. Even though it's supposed to be fake documentary it feels very real dissecting the mysteries of meeting someone on the Internet proving their existence. We can never be too sure these days who's real or not according to their profiles. Shocking and uneasy and the truth hurts but it's worth noting for other reasons. Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 09/18/23 Full Review Sahooon C I love the tv series and it's cool to see where it all started. If you like documentaries this is quite a good one Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 07/30/23 Full Review dave s If you can ignore the temptation to dissect the documentary Catfish in an effort to determine how much of the story, if any at all, was staged, you'll probably find it to be a fascinating examination of romance in the age of social media. It plays like a thriller as the subject of the film, New Yorker Nev Schulman, begins to realize that his online relationship with a woman in Michigan is suspect, at best. Without giving away too much, when the truth begins to unravel and the perpetrator is finally revealed, it becomes a somewhat touching story of lost dreams and lives lived in quiet desperation. Unlike the TV show it led to, the film doesn't rely on sensationalism and shock value – it just feels real, whether it is or not. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 03/30/23 Full Review david f This documentary, about an online friendship that turns out not to be what it seems at all, is a mesmerizing trip into the mysteries of the internet. I was spellbound as the things that I thought that I saw with my own eyes turned out to be completely different in reality. The Michigan connection made this all that more fascinating. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 03/31/23 Full Review Audience Member Now I could have been just fine to not have ever seen this movie. And the guys who made it's trailer knew. Or they wouldn't have tried so hard to make one want to watch this useless pile of film rolls. Rated 1.5 out of 5 stars 02/06/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Catfish

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Cast & Crew

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Movie Info

Synopsis When Nev Shulman, a New York photographer, receives a Facebook request from a child named Abby, he cannot guess the unusual odyssey on which he will soon embark. Abby sends Nev an unusually skilled painting based on one of his photos. Intrigued, he begins online relationships with the rest of Abby's family, including her older sister, Megan. Though troubling inconsistencies soon emerge, Nev continues his online flirtation with Megan, resulting in a road trip to meet her in person.
Director
Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost
Producer
Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman, Andrew Jarecki, Marc Smerling
Distributor
Universal Pictures
Production Co
Supermarche, Hit the Ground Running
Rating
PG-13 (Some Sexual References)
Genre
Documentary, Drama, Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Oct 29, 2010, Wide
Release Date (Streaming)
Feb 12, 2014
Box Office (Gross USA)
$3.2M
Runtime
1h 28m
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