The Social Network (2010)

Directed by: David Fincher
Written by: Aaron Sorkin
Based on book by: Ben Mezrich

I saw this movie a few months ago, but didn’t review it because so much time had passed since its initial release. No one was really talking about it anymore, so I figured, why should I?

Well, as predicted, it was nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. So, here I am, reviewing it months later.

The Social Network is the story of Facebook, one of the biggest success stories of the last ten years. Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) created a social network platform that basically everyone in the world now uses. Even if they don’t use it, they use something that has spawned from it, whether it’s another website or some term that came from it.

But did Mark actually come up with the idea himself? Or did he steal it from the Winklevoss twins (Armie Hammer plays both, once over Josh Pence’s body)? And did he steal money from his best friend (Andrew Garfield)?

I think that the truth is somewhere between what everyone says and what this movie says. No one involved with the movie says that it is absolute truth. It’s an allegory for our times and the way we deal with people in the 00s. We can pretty much start and end a relationship all online without ever seeing the person on the other end in real life. Fincher and Sorkin know this. Whether Mezrich does or not is another story. He very well could think that his book was all truth. I’m not sure.

Either way, this was a pretty amazing film. I had absolutely no desire to see it (outside of the fact that Fincher directed it and Sorkin wrote it) when I started hearing about it. Why would I want to see a movie about the formation of Facebook? That’s just dumb. A bunch of programmers sitting around telling everyone that they came up with it? Whatever.

Turns out that, the way Sorkin wrote the script, this is compelling storytelling. And, really, that’s probably what makes this movie so good: it takes a potentially boring subject and makes us care about it…even if we don’t particularly care about any of the characters.

Which brings us to the acting. Jesse Eisenberg is the obvious standout. He takes this unlikeable character and tells us WHY he’s unlikeable. We see his side of it without actually starting to like him. We feel sorry for him…but we still don’t want to hang out with him. We almost WANT to see him fail. And the fact that we keep watching means that Sorkin, Fincher and Eisenberg did their jobs very well.

Eduardo (Garfield) is really about the only likeable character in the whole film. We REALLY feel sorry for him because he’s just left behind by his friend. Eduardo should be a rich man, just like his ex-buddy. Unfortunately, he’s not, and that’s the real tragedy of the story. A great friendship was ruined over money.

The Winklevi, while being semi-tragic figures, are almost comic relief. They’re the upper-crust of Harvard and they’re duped by a “low-life” that no one knows. They’re super-smart, but they want to use their connections to get ahead. When that doesn’t work…well, they almost don’t know what to do. And their verbal banter is pretty hilarious.

Justin Timberlake shows up just long enough for a cameo as Sean Parker, he of Napster fame. Whatever. I felt like I needed to mention that he was in the movie. He made almost no impression otherwise.

A lot has been made of this film being sexist and Sorkin being to blame. Yes, Sorkin and Fincher are notorious for making “boy’s club” type movies. But I still wonder where a strong female character would have fit into this story? These guys had no clue how to act around women. A strong woman would have run away from them pretty quickly…much like the only semi-strong one does in the first scene, a Sorkin scene if ever I saw one. (The breakup between Mark and his girlfriend (Rooney Mara, Fincher’s future Girl With The Dragaon Tattoo) is fast-paced and perfect.) The only women that these guys know how to treat in any way are weak-willed or gold-diggers. I think it’s more a comment on the characters that they don’t interact with real women than it is on the writers. I’ve known guys like this. They don’t necessarily MEAN to be sexist. They just surround themselves with women who allow them to be sexist because they don’t know any better. It’s a vicious cycle.

It doesn’t hurt that all most of these guys care about is money…so the only thing the women around them care about is money. You surround yourself with like-minded people.

Anyway, I’m going to shut up about that before I get myself in trouble. Suffice to say that I don’t think that the movie is sexist. I think the characters are sexist.

I also think that this is a pretty amazing film. It’s no wonder to me that it was nominated for lots and lots of awards. While I think that there were better films released this year, I think it’s the one to bet on come Oscar night.

And I think it says something about the power of Facebook that I have Facebook open as I write the review. Goddammit.