You might go to see The Social Network with the idea that you’re getting an insight into what makes the CEO of Facebook Mark Zuckerberg tick. Though you'll probably leave feeling sorry for him based on the depiction of a young man who is brilliant and rich, yet morally and socially bankrupt.
In fact, there are so few moments in the movie where it’s possible to relate to Zuckerberg that halfway through you start to feel like you’re watching The Elephant Man. It’s both painful and fascinating—like watching a train wreck, except that almost everyone in this story ends up extremely wealthy.
The screenplay, by Aaron Sorkin, was written at the same time as the book by Ben Mezrich and is full of incredibly tight, fast-moving dialogue. At moments, it is shockingly funny because of both the writing and delivery of the dialogue.
The movie (which is rated PG-13) starts out at breakneck speed (verbally) in the opening scene, and the rest of the movie is a battle to follow what Zuckerberg is doing. After getting dumped by his girlfriend, he spends a drunken night of posting photos of his Harvard campus co-eds, which catches the attention of the Winklevoss twins, Kyle and Cameron, (Armie Hammer) and their friend Divya Narendra (Max Minghella).
The Winklevoss’s and Narendra think Zuckerberg has what it takes to program their concept for a Facebook-like project. They pitch the idea; he agrees to work with them, and less than two months later Facebook is born. But the twist is that Zuckerberg cuts out the twins and their friend in the programming process.
Saverin is doomed from the start—possibly by Zuckerberg’s apparent insanely jealous and vindictive streak—and spends the rest of the movie trying to play catch-up. The entire story largely revolves around these several characters, who are extraordinarily well written and perfectly cast.
Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) steals the show in his scenes, with his creepy and somehow highly suspicious mannerisms and a past that follows him everywhere. You’re never sure what he has up his sleeve, who he’s trying to use, or who he is going to back stab.
Directed by David Fincher, The Social Network captures almost every moment with action, suspense, and drama—aside from a few gratuitous moments with sexual implications that have little to do with the story.
But Sorkin’s script, Fincher’s directing, and the very believable acting draw you in so completely that you experience a state of suspended reality for the movie’s two-hour run. What keeps you grounded is knowing that Sorkin’s script is based on detailed research (minus access to Zuckerberg) and includes testimony from the two lawsuits that were ultimately filed against the young billionaire by his former best friend and the Winklevoss twins. Scenes of deposition hearings from both lawsuits are woven throughout the movie, adding to the state of suspense, and dramatizing the needs and wants of the main characters.
What Sorkin and Fincher have managed to accomplish with The Social Network is nothing less than a movie that is guaranteed to bother you deeply on some level—whether you like it or not. The story raises so many age-old questions about greed, loyalty, and the American way that it’s easy to connect with it as it unfolds.
Where it falls short is that it dramatizes a true story according to many different viewpoints, but it’s not the whole story. It depicts Zuckerberg as a disloyal, revenge-seeking young man who, like so many of his generation, seems to be lost. Whether the entertaining movie is worth the controversy it will likely generate about Zuckerberg and his tactics on the road to becoming the youngest billionaire in the world remain to be seen.
[etRating value=“ 3”]
