The past decade has seen a boom in excellent documentaries such as Capturing the Friedmans, Supersize Me and Spellbound. Catfish is every bit as good as those, even if it is more cinematic than informative. There is a level of scepticism surrounding Catfish with people dubious about its claims of authenticity.
Admittedly it does seem like everything falls into place a bit too smoothly for Henry Joost and Ariel Schulman but this isn't an issue until you reflect on it afterwards. Even then, using coherent narrative as a negative is quite perplexing. Its akin to berating Back to the Future because time travel is impossible. Isn't it?
If you let yourself get lost in Catfish and don't over think it you will get the most out of it. The story of an online flirtation and the journey to meet the online conquest, the filmmakers prove themselves more than competent in suspense cinema. The scene where the guys inspect the farm house at night is one of the most terrifying things I've seen. Even though nothing happens.
What makes Catfish is the sting in its tail. A twist you won't see coming but that will break the heart of anyone with one.
A brilliant movie that tugs at the heartstrings and has you climbing the walls with terror in equipment measure. Five stars. *****
