Catfish
Well, I didn't think it was possible but there's a movie worse than "Salt". I was warned before seeing "Catfish" that the marketing was COMPLETELY misleading (which it was) but that heads up didn't make the movie any better. While the movie wasn't as infuriating as "Salt" that is probably because it never started out with much promise. From the jump, I didn't like the main people, didn't understand why they were so caught up with their initial subject, and really just never gave a damn.
There are a lot of questions about whether the film is real or not and I think that some of it is and a lot of it is recreations but in the end, if it is fake, it's just a pointless movie and if it is real, then they blew and opportunity to make a truly interesting doc. Instead they went with a gimmick. Of course, the filmmakers won't complain because it sold the film and got the movie legit buzz but it's just not that good.
To read more (SPOILERS INCLUDED), continue reading.
(AGAIN, SPOILERS)
In the end, I think the subject of the film was a real person and really did have all those fake personalities. However instead of really making an insightful documentary about the woman and what drives her and why her family allows it to happen and how many other people are other there, the filmmakers went with a gimmick. Maybe they weren't smart enough to make a better movie but they chose all flash (which, again, helped sell the film so I can't say it was a bad choice) and no substance.
One of my main issues with the film was that I just didn't like the filmmakers and thought Nev came off as a creep. And WAY too much of the film was about them. The part about them finding out the charade that was being pulled on them should have been the first act, not the whole film. And if they were going to focus on Nev so much, then they needed to REALLY focus on him and not give a superficial look at what happened. Why did Nev fall for it? Why did he put up with so much before admitting that he was being conned? (Personally, I think a lot of those parts were reshot and they failed to give a better motivation as to why Nev was so interested, even when he knew it was all fake. Honestly, the only thing keeping him in it was the documentary yet he was trying to act like there was some actual emotion.)
I was bored throughout the film but in the end was just disappointed because the movie had an interesting subject and a topic that hasn't really been looked into... and it still hasn't. It's ironic that the ad campaign was so misleading because the film company was basically pulling their own con job on the public. The filmmakers did the best with their talents but, sadly, it just wasn't enough. I also think too much of the film was their egos rather than their main subject's emotions.
