Catfish 2010

James Rocchi, MSN Movies: It may or may not be one of the year's best documentaries, but it's certainly one of the most unforgettable ... Read more

Keith Uhlich, Time Out: What rankles about Catfish is the way it treats the person at the other end of Nev's flirtation with feigned sympathy, turning that person's tragically complicated life into faux-profound fodder for Generation Internet. Read more

David Edelstein, New York Magazine/Vulture: Although Catfish is opportunistic, even borderline exploitive, it gets at -- by indirection, through the back door -- the magic-carpet aspect of this scary new medium. Real people are so complicated and irreducible, you know? Read more

Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times: Though it's out of fashion in these days of Facebook and cellphone cameras, some stories might be better left unshared. Read more

Noel Murray, AV Club: Catfish is absolutely riveting, and even nerve-wracking as Joost and the Schulmans get progressively closer to learning more about their "friends." Read more

Bill Goodykoontz, Arizona Republic: It is affecting, surprising, heartbreaking (though not, despite the marketing campaign that would lead you to believe otherwise, scary). Read more

Ty Burr, Boston Globe: Catfish demands to be seen, if only for the excellent arguments you'll have about it on the drive home. Read more

Cliff Doerksen, Chicago Reader: There are some creepy chuckles to be had from this allegedly true account. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: Catfish is fascinating. At the same time, it emits a condescending, pitying odor. Yet any documentary able to provoke such mixed feelings on a single viewing is doing something right, even if you're not sure, in the end, what that thing is. Read more

Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor: It must be said that the filmmakers, who profess to be as surprised as we are about how things play out, are being disingenuous at best and underhanded at worst. Read more

Chris Vognar, Dallas Morning News: A mildly intriguing exercise in guerrilla filmmaking, lapsed ethics and the potential for social-networking deception. Read more

Lisa Kennedy, Denver Post: At the end of this exquisitely poignant film, it's clear we humans are going to need a refreshed emotional skill set if we're to make sense of the real relationships we forge in our virtual worlds. Read more

Adam Graham, Detroit News: The film tells a devastating story that couldn't be more relevant to our times, who we are in real life versus the way we present ourselves online. Read more

Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly: Does it matter that this self-centered experiment intrudes on the lives of others? IMHO: yes. In Catfish, the camera's-rolling readiness to trawl for drama leaves a slimy aftertaste. Read more

Nick Pinkerton, L.A. Weekly: There is much here that is hard to swallow. Read more

Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald: Whatever your reaction to the moral and ethical decisions made by the filmmakers, you'll find Catfish fascinating on a broader level as a snapshot of a rapidly changing era... Read more

Bob Mondello, NPR: Your mom told you to be wary of strangers, right? Good advice. And that's all I'm gonna say. Read more

Kyle Smith, New York Post: The Schulmans and Joost don't fully do justice to the truths they stumble upon, but they capture a glimpse into another America, far from downtown Manhattan's creative class, that will stay with you and possibly touch you. Read more

A.O. Scott, New York Times: I say this with a heavy sigh: this is, by far, one of the most intriguing movies of the year. Read more

Steven Rea, Philadelphia Inquirer: Catfish ... raises all sorts of questions -- about the imaginary realms that open when you click on your computer screen, about cyber-stalking, but also about journalistic ethics. Read more

James Berardinelli, ReelViews: In the end, it's just a tale of passable interest and questionable authenticity. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The facts in the film are slippery, but the revelation of a human personality is surprisingly moving. Read more

Peter Travers, Rolling Stone: There's more killer suspense and shocking intimacy in this one-of-a-kind documentary than you'll find in a dozen thrillers. You'll laugh hard and cry too. Read more

G. Allen Johnson, San Francisco Chronicle: Much of this film appears very contrived, as if once the filmmakers stumbled onto their story, they went back and filmed re-creations of the initial Facebook scenes. Read more

Dana Stevens, Slate: Of all the twists in Catfish, the most surprising of all is what an honest and thoughtful film it turns out, against all odds, to be. Read more

Tom Horgen, Minneapolis Star Tribune: And you thought MySpace was scary. Read more

Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch: There's no denying its strong narrative or its emotional pull. And the film's computer-influenced visual style is very much of the moment. Read more

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. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: To avoid revealing too much and spoiling a fresh and intriguing experience, let's just say this: Catch Catfish. Read more

Peter Debruge, Variety: Documenting in tantalizing detail the twist-filled true story of a young man fooled by Facebook, the pic should easily hook domestic crowds. Read more

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post: Read more