Interesting concept, well acted, but nothings ever really clearly explained. I thought it was going to be something around deepfakes or something like that, but nope. They never really discuss money, like they never say that she isn't making money when the fake takes over, it's not even really implied since she's still splashing out to talk to the fake and buy her brother gifts and stuff. Some characters aren't really explained and just seem to flip flop, like Barney (I think that's his name) I get it's probably just showing people online are just facade's, but it's just unexplained and out of character in a way. Even the discovery of what she does was odd, it caused like a small rift that was fixed when she came home, one unanswered call to her mother is like the only sort of conflict beyond the discovery at the party and then yeah it's just fine, despite the fact it was in front of her brother, his friends, her mum and seems like various close friends and family, didn't seem to cause any issues when she goes out and stuff. Everything feels sort of inconsequential, since there's no real big effect after something happening. The ending doesn't explain the origins of where the fake came from, why they did it and who did it? so it's a movie with suspects who are almost immediately aren't suspects and no real conclusion which is what this film needed, since it implied a person or people were doing this. Just feels like a cool concept being wasted, by overlooking certain things that needed some addressing to keep the story coherent. Its pretty much a mystery that wasn't really solved and she goes back to work, but tries to be more careful of these people or AI? it just feels like a mess, but again it was well acted and well shot which is a positive, but would recommend a watch just to see what could have been I guess.

Reading the collider interview done after, he said it was supposed to be an algorithm and he was going to show servers and stuff to make it clear, but thought it was distracting, but without that, it makes less sense. He wanted to make it a film about an artist who will stop at nothing to do their craft, but it's never portrayed that way, she just seems to do it as a job to pay bills, but she has some morals. It's interesting especially reading the interview, seeing it like just a machine taking over your life kind of is interesting, but a lack of time spent getting certain things across or explaining things holds the film back.

So, here's the thing. You gotta kind of use your brain to get what's going on in this movie, and it's never going to directly spell it all out for you. There is an explanation to what happens, but there's not a character in the movie explaining to all the slow thinkers at home "This is what happens and this is why, and this is the motivation." If you accept that going in, then this movie is decent. If you're only half paying attention, or not good at thinking, you're going to end up like 90% of the comment section here and get frustrated.

Do you want to know what really happened here? [spoiler] Alice, aka Lola, had an AI program pretending to be her. The AI program took over her profile and used past videos of her to deduct what her fans were into, and "perfected her formula". Notice how she shot up in rankings when the AI took over, and it was implied during the movie that all of the top girls on the site were really just AI's of the people formerly in charge of their accounts. The top girl had been dead for years, and when she confronts sweaty weirdo he explains to her he's seen it before. A lot of the reviewers here seem to not understand this part, or need it explained why this would happen it seems. Well here's an easy explanation, because if the site is in on it, they take all the profits and no longer need to pay the performer. Wham bam done, explained.

What the movie does less of job explaining is why Alice acts the way she does. Why not tell her mother it's not her in the video, even if she still will want to own up to the fact she does the same thing? Why does she run from the guy who took her out to eat? He does clearly say he helped the other girls get to the top, so maybe what that means is he planned on killing her so her AI could permanently take her place, maybe he killed the other girls already. Who knows, but that's the one open ended thing about this movie that could've been better explained, and would've made me rate it higher.[/spoiler]

All in all, it wasn't a bad movie at all, you've just gotta use your brain a little to connect the dots on your own.

Cam is a psychological thriller directed by Daniel Goldhaber and stars Madeline Brewer of the Black Mirror fame. It’s brought to us by Blumhouse Productions. Cam is the story of Alice, an online cam girl, who live-streams from her home studio. Just when things are looking good, her account is hijacked by her doppelganger. While the film is pretty interesting to start with, it loses some steam in the middle and leaves the audience with a whole bunch of unanswered questions, especially around the characters in the movie. It's a good one time watch that feels like a longish Black Mirror episode.

What _Cam_ did, it did very well, I just wish it had done a little more.

_Final rating:★★★ - I liked it. Would personally recommend you give it a go._

Cam thrillingly records commentary on social media before glitching out at the climax. If ever there was a relatable topic in my life right now, or atleast for the past few years, it’s this one. The ever-growing addiction to social media, thirsting on the superficial requirement of “popularity”. That unnecessary attentive praise for the detailed work I’ve produced. Followers and likes on Instagram. Helpful votes on other review sites. It doesn’t matter. It is a regressive byproduct of artificial socialisation. Cam, for it’s introductory act, depicts the fundamental issue with modern reality perfectly. A young woman, who performs live shows on an adult entertainment website, rapidly escalates her controversial performances in an attempt to become the most watched entertainer.

In a society where individuals can get paid to showcase nudity online, with anonymous users tipping the entertainer, the addiction and lust for exploiting one’s self to earn a few hundred dollars has never been easier. Yet still within the guidelines of the law. Whilst it may sound monetarily heavenly to earn a living from the comfort of your own bedroom, it comes with potential consequences. Stalkers attempting to locate your abode. Anonymity running the risk of friends and family members discovering your explicit content.

However, it’s the psychological impact that Cam explores, in particular “Lola” and her manifestation of envy. She wants to be the best. The top girl. And she’s willing to do anything and everything to get that position. A modern issue for the youth of today who become addicted to technological entertainment such as gaming and adult content. Brewer’s engrossing performance enabled a subtle layer of sympathy to come through. It’s a relatable issue. Naturally, we resent her actions through a shocked expression, but empathise due to relatability. Obese old white men pleasuring themselves behind the security of their webcams. It’s gross, to say the least, yet a trend that does occur and is exploited. ChatRoulette is just one of many websites that harness the power of anonymity for sexual exploitation.

Then the direction changes as the plot progresses. Another entity is pretending to be “Lola” and locking the real “Lola” out of her account. This second act shifts the focus from thirsting popularity to conspicuous mystery. Who or what is pretending to be “Lola”? Old videos that have been downloaded and re-uploaded? A doppelgänger? Regardless, the story’s believability diminishes as the plot unfolds, but still remains captivating throughout due to the subject matter that is depicted. “Lola” as a character loses her dimensionality in order to focus on this imposter, detrimental to the thrilling nature of the narrative. Simply, it becomes more convoluted as it nears its climax. Then the third act commenced, and the mysterious reveal was exactly as I feared. Non-sensical. Illogical. Essentially, stupid. Initially what started out as a realistic subject study, concluded as a surrealistic mess. A dire shame considering how engaged I was throughout.

Nevertheless, Cam exceeded my expectations (although fairly low to begin with...). Illustrating a topic that should be discussed more frequently in today’s Internet environment. Unfortunately though, this live show was losing viewers with every minute that ticked by.