Catfish

PG-13

Released Oct 29, 2010

1 hr. 28 min.

Documentary

Drama

Mystery & Thriller

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List

80%

156 Reviews

Tomatometer

71%

25,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

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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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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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

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Ariel Schulman

Director

Henry Joost

Director

Yaniv Schulman

Self

Ariel Schulman

Self

Henry Joost

Self

Melody C. Roscher

Self

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Critics Consensus: Easy A and The Town Are Certified Fresh

Five Favorite Films with Catfish Directors Henry Joost and Rel Schulman

Catfish: Trailer 2

1:51

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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

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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
Executive Producer: Ryan Kavanaugh, Brett Ratner
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

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