Movies: The Social Network Review

Score: **** out of *****

Long Story Short: The Social Network is a film based on the origins of Facebook, and the highs and lows for its founder, Mark Zuckerberg. It's a very well-made film with strong dialogue and good performances, especially from Eisenberg (Zuckerberg). While it does cast Zuckerberg as something of a villain in the story, he is still a character with whom you can sympathize, due partly to that strong performance. Facebook itself is basically just a device for the plot here; it's about the characters, and it does that exceptionally well.


Boy, I haven't had a movie review in awhile! Usually I see a lot more movies in theaters, but I started my blog just as the slow part of the movie season hit (late summer/early fall). The Social Network was directed by David Fincher, and Wikipedia calls it a "drama," so that's what I'll go with. There seems to be a lot of debate about exactly how accurate this film is, which is at least based on the origins of the uber-popular web site Facebook (duh). To be honest, I'm not too concerned about its accuracy, and that certainly won't play a part in my review. Either way, it's an excellent drama, and now for some reasons why.

When the movie starts, don't be surprised if you feel like the projectionist (is that still the term?) made a mistake and started you in the middle. Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg), future founder of Facebook, is having a very rapid conversation/argument with his girlfriend at a bar. Once you get settled down, the scene, and the next 15 minutes or so, serves as a nice background to the story, namely Harvard (side note: if that really is anything like Harvard, boy am I glad I didn't go there). Zuckerberg is a computer nerd who doesn't fit in with Harvard's social fabric, but he is a genius. After getting dumped by his girlfriend, he lashes out in revenge on the whole campus in a mean but pretty clever prank.

This prank gets him noticed by three other students (two of whom are twins), who come to him with the idea, basically, for Facebook (specifically, "MySpace with exclusivity"). Zuckerberg passes this idea off as his own to his friend Eduardo (Garfield). Eduardo gives him start-up money, and becomes the young Facebook CFO. The web site soon spreads far beyond Harvard, as Zuckerberg keeps putting off the other three students. At some point, Eduardo and Mark meet Sean Parker (Timberlake), founder of Napster (though I can't remember why). Anyway, Sean schmoozes Mark, who is impressed with Sean's savvy and, well, social connections. Eduardo, though, is suspicious and wants to play it safe with Facebook.

Without going into too much more detail, Sean eventually gets Mark on his side at a crucial moment (Frodo-Sam-Gollum anyone?), and Mark gains immense wealth through Sean's help but also loses his one true friend in the process. Throughout the film, scenes go back in forth between this narrative and two separate legal battles (Mark vs. three Harvard guys, Mark vs. Eduardo), where Zuckerberg actually gets most of his dialogue.

The Social Network is very well cast, an essential thing for such a character-driven film. Eisenberg is perhaps the best as Zuckerberg; he just disappears into the character. He portrays Zuckerberg as a fast-talking, very intelligent young man; perhaps most impressively, he shows Zuckerberg's complete ignorance of his own lack of social skills at times, while at others being painfully aware of it. Timberlake also does an excellent job in his role, although I think it's at least partly due to Brad Pitt-itis (cast in a role where he acts like himself). He manages to steal the role of villain in this film away from Zuckerberg, for me at least. Garfield is pretty good as Eduardo, and has some of the funniest parts of the film. Armie Hammer as the Harvard twins also does a great job; again, he has some of the funnier parts, too.

Since this isn't an action or comedy, I can't really focus on either of those two aspects here, but I'll throw out a few more things. The dialogue is very good; the screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin, writer for "The West Wing", which is a good reason why. Again, Zuckerberg has most of the best lines, but there are some other highlights too, such as from his ex-girlfriend, and from the president of Harvard talking to the twins. I really like that the film goes back and forth between the legal stuff and the narrative; other than simply keeping both parts fresh, it's a good way to play with the chronology and the audience's understanding of the events. And finally, while the film pretty much asserts that Zuckerberg stole the idea for Facebook and then betrayed his friend, I actually felt kind of bad for the guy by the end. I won't give it away, but one of the lawyers has the perfect line to sum him up at the end.

***

The Social Network is certainly one of the best movies I've seen this year, but I'm not sure it's the kind of film that's going to stay with me. It's an extremely well-executed movie; I have no complaints there (or at least none that stand out to me). Zuckerberg himself is certainly the main draw of the film, as he should be, and everything and everyone revolves around him. The film also has a good sense of humor, which is a must (especially in a film like this that could be too depressing without it). On the other hand, while I'm sympathetic for Mark, I can't empathize with him. His friendship with Eduardo seems flimsy throughout; thus, Eduardo's anguish at being betrayed almost veers more toward anger simply at the material loss. But, it's still a very impressive film that I would recommend to anyone.