The reason why I decided to check out Catfish The Movie is because I currently watch Catfish: The TV Show on MTV. They always start off the episode of how the series came to be by mentioning Nev's story, who is the Host/Moderator of the TV Show. So, after watching a handful of episodes, it was high time that I finally got around to seeing the movie that started it all. For those that are familiar with the term 'Catfishing', you damn well know that everything is not on the up and up and that somebody (the catfisher) is going to be caught with their hand in the cookie jar.

With my knowledge of how the TV Show operates, I kinda knew how everything was going to be edited. What I didn't know was how the movie would start because how does one make a movie about being the victim of Catfishing? Well, the film started out as nothing more than a documentary chronicling Nev's "relationship" with an 8 year girl named Abby. Hold on, it's not like that. This girl Abby was a fan of Nev's photography and did a painting based on one of his images. They became pen pals of sort as Abby was sending him paintings in the mail and then later becoming friends on Facebook. One thing leads to another, Nev starts having conversations with Abby's mother Angela on the phone. Nev feels a part of an extended family, which includes Megan, who Nev falls in "love" with online, on phone, snail mail. You see where all this is going right?

Abby, Angela and Megan are all one and the same. Actually, both Abby and Megan are real people. The mother (Angela) used her own 8 year old daughter to lure Nev into her web and then used her half-sister Megan as the hook to keep him there. After awhile, things start to unravel as nothing is panning out, casting serious doubt into what is playing out. Once Nev and company basically show up at Angela's house unannounced, that's where the real story begins to unfold or unravel if you will. It's creepy, sad and unnerving. But seeing how Angela lives, it completely makes sense as to why she would go to great lengths to live another life....or 15. It doesn't make what she did right, but I get it.

One of the most compelling moments in the entire movie is when Nev ask Angela to talk to him as "Megan". I think at this precise moment, upon hearing "Megan" coming out of this woman he doesn't know, you can see in his eyes that he is absolutely crushed that EVERYTHING he had hoped for was now all slipping away. I don't know if it has been discussed, but I think Angela laying everything out and showing all the hoops she had to jump through to keep her lies in check was done in the vain effort that if she told Nev the truth, that she could still win Nev's heart in the end.

So, is the movie/doc a hoax as many have claimed it to be? Well, as I mentioned earlier about how the doc started filming at an odd moment regarding Abby sending him paintings, it does call into question its authenticity. But whether its real or not, the movie itself is very good. I know all the beats that were coming, I knew how it was going to end and yet I was still on the edge of my seat. Definitely worth a Rent.