The Social Network

The Social Network (PG-13)

Grade: B+

• Directed by: David Fincher
• Produced by: Scott Rudin, Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, and Cean Chaffin
• Screenplay by: Aaron Sorkin.  Based on the novel, "The Accidental Billionaires" by Ben Mezrich
• Starring: Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg), Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin), Justin Timberlake (Sean Parker), Armie Hammer (Winklevoss Twins/Josh Pence), Max Minghella (Divya Narenda), Brenda Song (Christy Ling), Rooney Mara (Erica Albright)
• Cinematographer: Jeff Cronenweth
• Music by: Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross
• Studio: Relativity Media, Trigger Street Productions
• Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
• Released: October 1, 2010
• Running Time: 121 minutes/2 hours and 1 minute
• Language: English

"You have part of my attention, you have the minimum amount.  The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing."

-Mark Zuckerberg

The statistics on Facebook currently are staggering when you look at it.  As of 2012, it has over 1 billion users (about 9% fake), and recently raked in 5.1 billion dollars.  Not bad for a company started by a group of Harvard students less than a decade ago, which "The Social Network" wanted to show.  The film seems ridiculous based on it's concept (a film on Facebook, really?), but after watching it, I have to say the film is as close to a masterpiece as can be, besides a few minor flaws. 

When we are introduced to "The Social Network", we encounter a young Mark Zuckerberg sitting in a bar with his current girlfriend Erica.  She's interested in his conversation at first, but is put off by his attitude towards exclusive clubs, so she dumps him, a decision he doesn't find favorable.  Because of this, Mark and his friend Eduardo Saverin create a site called "Facemesh" to rate girls based on their appearance.  The thing is, it gets so popular that it crashes parts of Harvard's network, getting Mark in trouble.  On the upside, he gets notoriety, which leads him to the Winklevoss Twins, two people who can potentially help him start Facebook, but what leads from their helps drive the film to its core.

There are so many things I love about "The Social Network" that I don't know where to begin.  First off, I love the cast from Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, all the way to Justin Timberlake, which surprised me since I'm not a fan of his, but he and everyone did a fantastic job in this film.  Eisenberg was the cold, deadlocked person I expected a businessman to be, Garfield was the vulnerable friend I had most sympathy for, and Timberake was just an obnoxious asshole.  Any performance can leave an impact on a person, but everyone interacted so well as a whole, and when they had a scene together that was joyous or gut-wrenching, I felt it.  Secondly, I love the attention to detail they gave to things like the look of Harvard even though it really wasn't.  And lastly, I give praise to the screenplay because I never thought a film about Facebook would be an interesting film, but as usual, Aaron Sorkin just writes great screenplays.  

The only flaws I had with "The Social Network" relate to Aaron Sorkin though.  And while he does write terrific screenplays, there are some flaws I noticed with it.  Although they seem more personal to my taste, such as the film seeming to be misogynistic.  Also, he made the characters the strength of the film, but I wish he focused more on how Facebook was actually built, since I don't think he spent as much time on that, and everything he did show seemed simplistic.  I'm not complaining since I enjoyed the film, but as a everyday person, it would be interesting to see how everything is really done.

With everything I've said about "The Social Network", the pros outweigh the cons.  If you see it once, I think you'll be impressed by it, but after seeing it a few times like I have, its lost its luster like a lot of Aaron Sorkin screenplays (i.e, Moneyball).  The reason why I think everyone should see the film though is because everyone is basically on Facebook now, so I think people should at least see how something they use got created, even if it is loosely based.  Also, I think it accurately shows that Facebook may keep everyone connected online, but it doesn't necessarily serve it's purpose of keeping people friends.  Cyber friends can never be a substitute for real ones, which this film poetically shows, and is the reason why I don't have a Facebook anymore.