When I saw the title Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara, I got excited. I am not a huge fan, but I have liked them in the past enough to buy a couple CDs. I thought, "Cool. I can hear a but about the story of the band Iand maybe hear a few songs. Maybe see them perform a bit."
Well, I sorta got what I wanted, on the former point. Die hard fans of the group will probably be fascinated and will love the band even more for what they have had to put up with. However, this is probably not going to make new listeners out of people who know nothing about the group (i.e. Everyone).. You hear a portion of "Walking Like a Ghost" and the first single off their next record, but that's it. The story is contained to Sara'so stories of interacting with her computer and what her family and friends thought about it all. The movie doesn't have much of a reason to extend into their life as a working band.
This is not really a story about how Tegan and Sara were catfished. This Is a case of severe identity theft. Tegan's fans were the ones being catfished. The band's routine of compassionately relating with fans was taken advantage of. The band had their passport photos stolen, emails hacked into, you name it. Fans who thought they were talking to the actual band thought they were off in ways that made them angry. It turns out that you can't hang out after shows to shake hands or tell your audiences personal details of your life anymore.
At 99 minutes, this is clearly too long. I am unconvinced that this couldnt be an hour long eposode of a tv show, with ad breaks. There is the show "Catfish" but this is different. You should probably not create a series about famous people that had their identities stolen, so I get it. That would set a bad precedent.
This is a decent, chilling account of a true life story. This seems largely made for fans that want to know what was going on over the years. For essayists and YouTube content creators, it is pretty much a must-see if you are looking for a true accounts about stalking or the perils of fame. But for a movie about famously entertaining figures, this is rather bland and uninvolving.
Good for fans, but in no way surprising. Look for YouTube videos or podcast episodes to quickly reference the most interesting bits.
7.5/10.
