Catfish is kind of a weird film.  It's a little hard to talk about without giving too much away.  Even the tagline for the film is: "Don't let anyone tell you what it is."  What I can tell you is Catfish is a faux documentary following Yaniv "Nev" Schulman's relationship with a family he meets via Facebook and what happens as that relationship goes in new and often times exciting directions.  The story starts with Nev receiving a painting from a little girl named Abby, who lives in Michigan.  Abby is supposedly some kind of eight year old painting phenom who takes Nev's photographs and paints them in her own style, then sends them to Nev in New York.  Slowly, Nev starts talking to other members of Abby's family and eventually starts a pretty heated relationship with Abby's older sister, Megan.  Now, what happens when people meet online?  They eventually want to meet in person right?  That is what happens here, but the meeting is not what you would expect, or maybe it is.  At least for me, ten minutes into the film I had a feeling where the story was going and then it went there--and then it stayed there--and stayed there a little longer!  There is no shocking twist.  No epiphanies.  No nothing.  I think this film came a few years too late because we all are aware of who is on the other end of that Instant Message may not be the person we think it is.  Catfish is interesting and worth checking out, but it definitely lacks authenticity and believability. (.65)

-Jeff