Who would've thought there was so much drama behind the most popular social networking site in the world? David Fincher teaches us the troubles that come with power and fame with an outstanding cast including Jesse Eisenberg from Adventureland and Zombieland, our future Spider-Man Andrew Garfield, and music star Justin Timberlake.
The Social Network takes us back to Mark Zuckerburg's (The creator of Facebook) college days at Harvard University. When see Mark on a date with his girl friend, talking on and on about a fraternity called the Phoenix Club. So she grows so annoyed that she dumps him, calling him and "asshole" before she leaves.
Heart broken (Although he doesn't show it), Mark goes to his dorm and begins to live blog about his ex, and soon the whole school finds out. He then comes up with an idea to to create a website where two girls from the school are compared and students vote which one is hotter, along with his friend Eduardo Saverin (Garfield). He calls it facemash.com, and it goes viral throughout the school immediately. But soon the Dean finds out, and through his suspicions forces them to shut the site down.
Two brothers Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss are confronted by their friend Divya Narendra, that he's got the guy to make their new social networking site called Harvard Connection. Zuckerburg soon meets up with the twins, where they explain their idea and ask him if he wants to join, and he says he's in.
But later on, Mark keeps delaying his meetings with the twins, and in the mean time is caring out all the Winklevoss's ideas with Eduardo and making a similar website called thefacebook.com. Soon tensions arise, and new characters are introduced including Christy Lee (Brenda Song) and Sean Parker (Timberlake). We soon see the creation of Facebook, and the drama it went through to get to where it is today.
Like I said earlier, the acting was superb. I was most impressed with Garfield, who did a terrific job pulling off an American (Although he didn't do so great at being Hispanic which his character is supposed to be). Armie Hammer does an amazing job at pulling off both of the Winklevoss twins, playing each with a different personality. And of course Jesse Eisenberg (One of my favorite actor currently) just completely nails the roll, and does a spectacular job as Zuckerberg.
Aaron Sorkin did a terrific job on the script for the film, which was both dramatic, funny, and realistic. Every line felt natural, and Zuckerberg's quick and witty remarks were very original, and great to here. It takes a while for you to realize that the characters are actually telling the story in the future, sitting in a court room, which is an interesting way to tell the story.
I was surprised of what a small part Sean Parker (Timberlake) had in the movie, and I have to admit I was a little disappointed. I found myself at the end of the movie definitely leaning toward Eduardo's side of the argument, which might serve as a bit unfair for Zuckerburg and the Winklevoss twins.
The score was also excellent in the film, keeping the pace up so that the story wouldn't just be a bunch of college students coding for years and years, and really emphasised drama. Now what really left me hanging was the ending. When the credits began to roll, the movie just didn't seem complete, and that's because it wasn't. The story of Facebook is still currently happening, do it just feels strange when the movie closes and that's just it.
But really, The Social Network is an Oscar worthy film, and one of the best this year for sure. And believe me, when you're done watching this movie you will leave the theater thinking in your head "Mark Zuckerburg is such an asshole" yet you'll log right on to Facebook the next day.
I give The Social Network 4.5 out of 5 Stars:
