'Catfish'

'Catfish' (PG-13) (3 stars)

Directors: Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman
With: Abby, Nev, Angela, Megan and Ariel

Facebook is both a weirdly amazing phenomenon and a curse to our society. "Catfish" is a fascinating, weird, captivating and finally sad movie that sheds a light on the curse of facebook. It tells the story of Nev Schulman as his brother Ariel and friend Henry film him building a relationship online with an artistic family. He sees a young girl on facebook named Abby and her paintings which he finds beautiful. He has her send him some of her paintings and then Nev adds Abby's mother Angela and her older, hot sister Megan as facebook friends. Megan is a dancer and a musician that looks somewhat like a model but she seems down to earth and sweet. After Nev and the family send messages back and forth Nev calls Megan and finally talks to her on the phone. She has a sweet, timid voice and Nev starts to really get intrigued by her. He also talks to Angela and Abby and also adds more of the family members and their friends. This is all filmed by Nev's brother Ariel and Nev finds the family fascinating and even starts to lust after Megan. Then some strange things start to happen and things start not adding up. There are some inconsistencies in the information that Angela, Megan and Abby give to Nev and he is compelled to find out if Megan is who she says she is. They decide to go on a trip to visit the family and see if Megan exists.

The set up of this movie is very well done and grabs our attention mostly because we have all been fascinated by facebook. We have all corresponded with new people or have gotten strange friend requests. Facebook is addictive and this movie does a great job of feeding that addiction. What happens in the second half of this movie is explosive, revealing and twisted. The trailers of this movie lead you to expect a horrific and shocking ending. This is not a horror movie but it is scary in a different way. I guessed some things that would happen in this movie but I wasn't prepared for the emotional impact the last half hour of this movie delivers. I will not give away what happens in "Catfish" but I will reveal that the family that Nev has come to visit contains a lot of vulnerable and pathetic people that we grudgingly grow to care about. When we find out the revealing surprises we don't gasp and recoil but we feel some real pain and discomfort. All the people in this movie mean well but facebook has given them a tool to deceive. I wrote last week about how "Devil" made me cringe when it became religious and a moral fable. "Catfish" gives a moralistic story that is more impactful for it is a true story. "Catfish" is very compelling, gripping, emotional and full of offbeat humor and sadness. It makes me wonder how may people are using facebook for not very noble reasons.