Movie Review: The Social Network (2010)
A solid dialogue driven drama, but it could have been even better
Photo: Columbia Pictures
Ten minutes into The Social Network the film's lead protagonist, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), speaking nearly a mile a minute, is made to look like a socially inept, unsympathetic word robot as he sips beer at a bar outside the Harvard campus with his date (Rooney Mara). The conversation ends with her breaking up with him, but not before calling him an "asshole" thus establishing the film's position on Zuckerberg. Directed by David Fincher from an Aaron Sorkin screenplay, adapted from Ben Mezrich's semi-fictional story of Facebook's roots, "The Accidental Billionaires," The Social Network portrays Zuckerberg as a villain who lies, cheats and steals his way to becoming the world's youngest billionaire.
The cast includes Jesse Eisenberg, Justin Timberlake, Andrew Garfield, Rashida Jones, Joe Mazzello, Caleb Landry Jones, Rooney Mara, Josh Pence and Dakota Johnson. For more information on this film including pictures, trailers and a detailed synopsis choose from the following menu.
Review
"The Social Network" is a Columbia Pictures release, directed by David Fincher and is rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language. The running time is 2 hours 1 minute.
Catching the eye of fellow Harvard students, privileged twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (in which Fincher pulls a Ben Button and uses the body of Josh Pence and Armie Hammer's face and voice) and Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), Zuckerberg is asked to join them in a venture to develop a dating website exclusively for Harvard students. While agreeing to do so, inspiration for TheFacebook (as it was referred to in 2003) strikes and Zuckerberg strings his previous partners along just long enough to get his site up and running first. Did he steal the idea and turn it into his own? Was it merely coincidence mixed with good fortune?
Sorkin uses this dispute over intellectual property as the focus of the story, not Facebook itself. The narrative bounces between legal depositions brought against Zuckerberg by not only the Harvard trio, but his former friend, business partner and disgruntled source for Mezrich's book, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), who eventually sees himself cut out of Facebook and ends up suing as a result. The film serves as a Wall Street-esque exploration of the entrepreneurial spirit with a modern age Charles Foster Kane as its lead. Added to this is the idea of friendship and the competitor in us all and it just so happens to involve one of the major corporations of the last decade.
Eisenberg plays the digitally-obsessed Zuckerberg with a focused, if not occasionally adrift, intensity. The character is fleshed out thanks to Sorkin's sharp-tongued dialogue, but had Eisenberg not been able to competently deliver Sorkin's words with machine gun speed the entire film would have collapsed. It takes a certain level of performance to come to a line such as, "If you guys were the inventors of Facebook… you'd have invented Facebook," and do it with such spontaneity that it floors the audience and allows the words to serve as the action element of a dialogue driven drama just as effective as any explosion in any Hollywood actioner.
Additionally, when Eisenberg isn't spouting off witty comebacks he sits back solemnly giving the audience's inner conflict something else to chew on. The way Zuckerberg isolates himself and his lack of real world friends serves as a direct contradiction to the empire he's building, and yet I admired his work ethic and tenacity. Eisenberg's performance is powerful not only for the lines he delivers, but perhaps even more powerful for the things he doesn't say.
Equally impressive are Andrew Garfield as Saverin and Justin Timberlake as Napster co-founder Sean Parker. The film portrays Saverin as the victim and Garfield embraces and runs with this idea to the point you want to give him a hug, though I hardly feel bad for the guy. Garfield's soft-spoken performance is played with childlike naivety and it's the perfect complement to the outspoken Parker, a business and industry savvy third wheel that soon finds himself riding shotgun, a role Timberlake falls into quite easily.
The performances make for the film's strong point. In fact, Fincher's hand-picked crew stands out more than he does, a testament to his ability to choose the right people for each project. The Social Network benefits from excellent editing by Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall and the original score by Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Atticus Ross is unique, lifting the narrative even when very little is going on, though I assume anyone that's heard Nine Inch Nails' "Ghosts" expected as much. Additionally, the sound mixing on one scene in particular delivers the most true-to-life club scene that may have ever been filmed as the characters are forced to shout over the loud music playing in the background as opposed to it magically lowering its volume so we can hear what they're saying.
As for Sorkin's script, I can champion his whip-smart dialogue, which he rarely fails to deliver, but the film does tend to have its wordy moments and I wasn't particularly enamored with the disappointingly abrupt and rather inconsequential ending. Sorkin and Fincher believe they've left the story of Facebook's disputed origin up for debate, but the "facts" they choose to present paint a pretty obvious picture as to how they see things. Of course, this is more of a modern day Greek tale so embellishments are to be expected and upon second viewing the scrambling of the facts bothered me much less and I was able to enjoy the film for what it was, rather than what it wasn't. In that sense, I think The Social Network will have long legs should audiences question what they see, do a little research of their own, and go back for a second helping.
Despite the fact I was able to come to terms with the factual inaccuracy of the story, I was a bit disappointed it didn't take advantage of the opportunity to comment on the cultural significance of Facebook, a site that has obviously grown to have a major societal impact all over the world. Instead of focusing on a phenomenon that now has over 500 million active users, the film focuses on one man's drive and ambition for success and social status. Then again, it's much more difficult to craft a narrative around the driving force of a generation than to do what Fincher does best and zero in on a single target. Comparisons to Fight Club are easy to make as we watch the socially-awkward Zuckerberg develop the world's largest social network only in the end to come out with no friends. Then again, even Fight Club's narrator had Marla Singer.
All judgments aside, The Social Network is a quality piece of filmmaking rife with terrific performances and made by a crew of true artists. Sorkin's words haven't sounded this good since President Bartlet was reading them and Fincher continues to prove he excels at bringing moral decay to the big screen, no matter how it's wrapped.
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I get the feeling that this will be viewed by the public the same way they viewed Benjamin Button: an ambitious effort that will go under-appreciated because of the inherent difficulties with the subject and the story.
I thought Ben Button was over-appreciated. the plot wasn't compelling at all despite it looking and sounding great.
I think you liked/ admired this movie more than you let on. I think you should have given it at least an A-.
I think so too. The review screams A- so the B grading was weird to me.
finally someone not going ga-ga or citizen Kane. I had some problems with it, as i felt that the pacing slowed down in middle – near the end, and some of the characters and relationships weren't developed that well, and it felt cold. But i think the hype and calling it citizen Kane raised my expectation the crazy heights.
i see this movie grabbing a lot of attention… im going to see it tonight i know i will. I say it attracts the people ages 16+ who obviously have a facebook account. The adults on the other hand might not be too interested although they can see it as a "look how far technology has come" in association to social networking
I thought the movie was very well made. I agree that the standouts are the dialogue and performances. However, I have to agree with yan m, it has been far too hyped.
I'm honestly thinking now, that because of all the hype this film has virtually no chance of winning Best Film at the Oscars. The King's Speech seems like a likely film to come up from behind and take it.
That hardly makes any sense. It's not like at first everybody called it a masterpiece, and then backed down. You may not have liked it that much, and Brad may not have liked it that much, but dozens of reviews that scream "masterpiece" and "Citizen Kane" aren't going to go anywhere. In fact, there's going to be more of them. And the general consensus still remains that this is a brilliant, Oscar-worthy film.
I didn't say I didn't like it that much. I thought it was a great movie and I haven't even seen the King's Speech but this happens every year.
Remember last year how Avatar was a sure thing and then the tide kinda started to turn to the point where even after the golden globes it was almost a certainty that it would lose to Hurt Locker.
This movie has peaked a little too early for me to think it can sustain the same amount of momentum till Oscar time.
Maybe my memory turns me down, but Avatar was far from a sure thing. At one point, Up in the Air and Precious were considered once, then The Hurt Locker established itself as one, and closer to the ceremony Inglourious Basterds got a faint chance of winning, but Avatar was never a clear frontrunner.
@Andrew: "Remember last year how Avatar was a sure thing…"
Since when?
Avatar aside, my point stands.
I just saw it and it is NOT a masterpiece, but rather an intelligent look at perspective to greed among humnas. The acting was well done (JT was a surprise to me), The script is definitly a possible oscar nom but in no way is it among the top 20 films ever or anything else.
I hope this movie's success influences the production of more films about famous companies.
I'd love to see a creation of Coca-Cola movie or a creation of Microsoft movie.
Those would be much more interesting than any crappy romantic comedies out there.
Not to suggest that many, if not most, of the rom coms out there aren't crappy but every genre has it's fans. I think it would be terribly dull to have a bunch of one sort of movie out there at once.
However, I wouldn't mind seeing a gripping in depth account of the creation of The Snuggie!
"I was a bit disappointed it didn't take advantage of the opportunity to comment on the cultural significance of Facebook, a site that has obviously grown to have a major societal impact all over the world."
How would they have done this without being contrived? You telling me the lines "we can now live on the internet" and the ending with Zuckerberg on his computer didn't say enough?
I can't see how this is a negative, when it's something the film didn't set out to do.
Rooney Mara was excellent in her two big scenes and Justin Timberlake in many ways steals the film as Sean Parker. Clearly Zuckerberg comes across like a complete asshole and a truly vile human being with almost no emotion or values. Truly a villian. Overall a well crafted and compelling movie.
While I don't consider it to be Fincher's best, it was really solid. Eisenberg and Garfield were both fantastic.
It certainly wasn't Fincher's but it was rather good. A Best Adapted Screenplay nomination is very likely, but as much as I liked it, I'd be a bit surprised to see it as a best picture nominee. Nonetheless, it's very entertaining, well acted, well written.
It's certainly no "Citizen Kane" beyond some facile comparisons. (It's just not there in the scope, the ground-breaking techniques, or even its tone. It's one of these comparisons like "he's the next Cary Grant" which never really lives up to that hype.)
It certainly wasn't Fincher's best, that is.
I was really disappointed with this. I felt like that this should have been a classic tale of American greed, but I feel like it is a better version of the atrocious Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps. It was definitely no where near Fincher's best work, and I am a HUGE Fincher fan. I just don't think that it was executed well. However, I will say that Timberlake was terrific in this. He definitely caught me off guard.
I foresee a Best Adapted Screenplay nod for this, but thats about it. I just can't picture it in the Best Picture race.
I am glad that there are some people here who did not love this film. It was well made but I basically found it just okay. It didn't grab me. I don't understand all of the love. I just hope that Jesse Eisenberg doesn't take the place of a more well deserving actor in the Best Actor category. In my opinion he doesn't deserve a nomination. But I know that I will not agree with the Academy when it gives many nominations to this film (which I suspect it will).
If you suspect the academy will give it many nominations you are admitting that it is a good movie. I'm a huge Fincher fan and I was pumped to go see this movie and I wasn't dissapointed at all. I don't know what all you haters were expecting but this is a goddamn good movie! Of course the academy will give out acting nominations because the acting was top-notch! And expect nominations for editing, screenplay, direction, score, and yes…best picture. Because I haven't seen anything else yet this year save 'Inception' that was this kind of quality all around.
I don’t think he has bad social skills at all. I think he’s too smart for his own good and sees beyond the social conventions around him and doesn’t care to follow them. He understands the social structure too much and that leads to him believing that he can simplify them into a simple website. Yes, he has “bad social skills” in that he treats others poorly, but I don’t think its just him being stupid.
I didn't go to see this movie because I knew that there was no possible way I would have been able to come to terms with the factual inaccuracies of the story. So Brad is a better man than I am. It's a total waste of time to watch something you know is bullshit. Better to read a book or articles about it.
I really wanna see the social network, but I'm worried my extreme jealousy for that geek will make my head explode. lol.
Second best film I have seen this year. Inception is still #1 for me. Inception was b/w A to A+ and The Social Network is a sold A-
I just could not get into this film. The whole idea of adapting the creation of Facebook, i never thought could work.