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Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara

2024

Documentary

5
Rotten Tomatoes Critics - Certified Fresh 94% · 18 reviews
IMDb Rating 6.4/10 10 765 765

Plot summary

Tegan Quin (from Tegan and Sara) has been the victim of identity theft and an ongoing catfishing scam for over 15 years. While investigating, she shares for the first time, how she was ensnared in toxic fan culture that revealed the dark side of fame.

Director

Erin Lee Carr Photo
Erin Lee Carr

Top cast

David Letterman Photo
David Letterman as Self
Max Kilger Photo
Max Kilger as Self - Social Psychologist Cyberterrorism Expert
Piers Henwood Photo
Piers Henwood as Self - Tegan and Sara's Management 2002-2020
Lindsey Byrnes Photo
Lindsey Byrnes as Self
720p.WEB 1080p.WEB 2160p.WEB.x265
915.51 MB
1280*640
English 2.0
NR
us  es  
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 4
1.83 GB
1920*960
English 5.1
NR
us  es  
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 12
4.44 GB
3840*2160
English 5.1
NR
us  es  
23.976 fps
1 hr 39 min
Seeds 5

Movie Reviews

Reviewed by davidpetrison 7 / 10

A rather dry account of the perils of fame, but interesting.

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.
Reviewed by paul-allaer 7 / 10

Exposing the harm done by catfishing

As "Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara" (2024 release; 99 min) opens, Tegan is talking to the director about why she has decided to tell the full story about how she was the subject of catfishing and how it has affected her and the people around her and the fans. The documentary then goes to the early days in Vancouver of identical twins Tegan and Sara, and how they broke into the music scene. At this point we are 10 minutes into the film.Couple of comments: this is the latest from documentarian Erin Lee Carr ("At the Heart of Gold: Inside the USA Gymnastics Scandal"). Here she assesses the strange tale of the catfishing of Tegan (someone else pretends to be Tegan, being a fake Tegan or Fegan as Tegan nicknames the fake her). The mere fact that this has happened is already strange. The fact that this went on for years and years is mindboggling. I should mention that I have seen Tegan and Sara 3 or 4 times in concert in the period 2008-2015, and I know who they are, but I am not a die-hard fan and this is the first time I hear of this story. Facts once again are stranger than fiction."Fanatical: The Catfishing of Tegan and Sara" premiered at this year's Toronto International Film Festival, and it started streaming on Hulu about 3-4 weeks ago. I just caught up with it earlier this week. If you area fan of Tegan and Sara or simply curious about catfishing, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
Reviewed by kamille 6 / 10

I Would Not Have Watched This

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