Fishing For Catfish

By now, everyone knows about the MTV television show Catfish. However, this was my firs time actually watching the original movie that started it all. The movie was filmed in 2010, and it featured Nev Shulman's relationship with a woman he met on Facebook. Of course, it turns out that the woman wasn't who she appeared to be. Actually, she lied about her relationship as far as her kids, cousins, and one of her child's drawing ability. I really wish that I wasn't familiar with the concept of catfishing, because it, in a way, ruined the entire movie for me. From the beginning, I knew that this woman wasn't who she said she was. What I didnt know was that the woman lied about as much as she did! She had a whole story and extra life made up off of the back of her nine year old daughter named Abby. It shocked me for Nev to meet this little girl and she to react the way she did. The way Abby responded was almost as if she had seen a ghost. I could only imagine the confusion this little nine year old had when this grown man tried to have a conversation with her about something she was completely unaware of. Also, I could only imagine the confusion Nev had when he realized that this super old woman had been the one he had been texting, and sexting, with for 9 months. If i was him, i would have definitely felt pretty grossed out that he has shared such vivid fantasy with someone completely different than who he thought it was. Not only did the woman claim to be her older daughter and lied about her daughter's appearance, but she also lied about her mother's appearance, which WOULD HAVE BEEN HER OWN ACTUAL APPEARANCE! This confused me, becauase if you was claiming to be the daughter, then what was the point of having an attractive mom? Like... why lie about the mother too?! We found out towards the end that her husband actually knew of this strange relationship, however I don't think he knows that this other man had been sexting his wife. I also don't believe that he knows that his wife lied about their entire lives and claimed that she was her older daughter. It's obvious that the man is very much off, and when I say off I mean kind of slow in processing. He doesnt seem to be a very well educated man, and I actually believe he is just using his wife as a caretaker for his two special needs sons. All in all, the movie was good and twisted and entertaining and sad and funny and... yea. Definitely a head shaker.