Catfish

CATFISH (2010) - Sept. 28, 2010
A basically decent but seriously over-hyped documentary about a guy who starts a long-distance relationship over facebook, and then starts to realize that all is not as it seems.  I think this is a case of hype (and marketing) seriously hurting the film, as the film has been billed as a thriller with an insane twist, which is really not the case.  I mean, there is a twist, sort of, but it's not particularly mind-blowing, and it's pretty low-key.  Certainly, calling this any type of a thriller is an outright lie (and the quote in the trailer calling this "the best Hitchcock film Hitchcock never directed" is almost laughably absurd).  Aside from the fairly blatant false advertising, this was a decent but unspectacular documentary.  Shoddily filmed but slickly edited, the whole thing was kind of interesting but mostly forgettable.  I'm really not sure how this was the most buzzed about film at Sundance when it played -- must have been slim pickings.  **1/2