The Social Network

I remember when I first heard they were making a Facebook movie.

To call my reaction "mixed" would be a compliment. I was genuinely amused that such a trivial topic would be adapted to a film. "A movie about Facebook? HA!" (My exact words at the time).

But then details began trickling in. David Fincher was attached to direct Aaron Sorkin's screenplay. The trailer revealed the film to be more a biopic of Facebook head Mark Zuckerberg than anything else. Despite the apparent involvement of Justin Timberlake, The Social Network was starting to look like it had promise.

So I went into the theatre with a reasonable amount of expectation. Knowing Fincher's ouevre, it is hard to go into any of his films without expecting to be entertained. And happily, The Social Network delivered.

From the opening of the movie we are immediately clued into one glaring fact; Mark Zuckerberg is not the most socially adept person in the world. The irony that such an introverted person created the world's largest social networking site is prevalent throughout the film, as Zuckerberg manages to alienate his school, his family, and his friends all while on the quest for the millionth Facebook member.

In typical Fincher form, the cinematography is dark and brooding. Much of the action is confined to the dorm rooms and exclusive clubs of Harvard, with the occasional jaunt forward in time to the law office board rooms where litigations against Zuckerberg took place. The screenplay weaves in and out of the telling of Facebook's creation in the mid 2000's and the more recent legal actions against it by both the Winklevoss brothers, who claim Zuckerberg stole their idea for the massive social site, and former Facebook CFO Eduardo Saverin, claiming he was bilked out of his stock option when the company went public.

All the back story and intrigue makes for a fascinating account about how something that we now all take for granted came to be.

Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland) is a revelation as the wormish Zuckerberg. I was surprised at how well he performed the character's social isolation whilst becoming the corporate world's darling. The rest of the supporting cast is also well up to the task. Andrew Garfield (about to turn up as Peter Parker in the Spiderman reboot) was earnest in his portrayal of Saverin, and Armie Hammer provided many humorous moments in his dual roles as the somewhat foppish Winklevoss twins.

The film is of course not without its shortcomings. For those who want some real action in their films, look elsewhere. The Social Network consists of a bunch of nerds talking about nerdy things, and lawyers talking about lawyerly things, sometimes at the same time! But it was all interesting to me.

Also, forget about finding any strong female characters. The most prolific woman in the story begins her character arc performing sexual acts in a bar bathroom and ends it setting a fire in an apartment.

The Social Network has been called the Citizen Kane of our time. While it doesn't match the quality of the latter, Fincher's film is similar in its portrayal of a flawed but ultimately well meaning media mogul. The backstory of the making of Facebook proves to be worthy of a feature film. In a time when very few original movies are coming out, The Social Network is a welcome find at the theater.



Attendance: 2/5
Crazy Fan Boy Factor: 0/5
Crowd Response: 3/5

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Production Value: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Acting Performances: 4/5
Timberlake Douchiness Factor: 6/5



Overall: 8/10