The Social Network

From acclaimed director, David Fincher ("The Curious Case of Benjamin Button") comes this fiercely smart biographical drama about the spawning of Facebook.  Jesse Eisenberg stars as Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who is just a sophomore at Harvard when the story begins.  Zuckerberg is an arrogant, socially inept guy who we see get unceremoniously dumped by his girlfriend in the opening scene of the film.  It's this break-up that inspires Zuckerberg to go on an angry, drunken blogging rampage while hacking into his school's student directories to create a distasteful ranking of female students based on their hotness.  While this clever stunt lands Zuckerberg in trouble with the university authorities, it also plants the seed for what will become the most ingenious social network ever created.  The question is, who had the idea for Facebook first, and ultimately, who's entitled to reap the profits?  As with any story worth telling, there's always two (or more) sides, and this story is no exception.  Written and told with razor-sharp dialogue (as only scribe, Aaron Sorkin, could pull off), the story centers around Zuckerberg and his relationship with best friend, Eduardo Saverin (an adorably sincere Andrew Garfield).  It's through this friendship that we really get a sense of what type of person Zuckerberg is: narcissistic, with a superiority complex to hide his inner inferiority complex, and utterly brilliant.  Eisenberg - who up until now has mostly played the nebbishly awkward, sensitive guy - humanizes Zuckerberg by portraying him at times as a hurt, lost puppy, and the rest of the time like a great white shark, preying upon the intellectually inferior with all the power his great mind is capable of wielding.  Whether you end up loving or hating his character, Eisenberg captures Zuckerberg's fascinating charisma to the core.  Justin Timberlake also brings allure to the screen by playing Napster founder Sean Parker, an intoxicating and highly persuasive personality who eventually leads Zuckerberg to turn his back on his one and only friend.  Will we ever know the true story of how Facebook came to be?  Probably not (as most of the parties involved in arbitration signed away all rights to publicly discuss the matter as part of their settlements).  But the version of the truth told here is an absorbing tale of friendships, fame, and betrayals that shines a whole new light on the modern pastime that is now seen as rote in most of America's eyes.


5 out of 5 stars