Rating:  

Relativity Media, Michael De Luca Productions, Scott Rudin Productions, Trigger Street Productions, and Columbia Pictures. Written by: Aaron Sorkin, adapted from the novel, “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich.

In his spacious dorm room at Harvard University, Mark Zuckerberg took out his frustrations on being dumped by his girlfriend and crafted a computer program which laid the foundation for one of the most revolutionary inventions of recent memory. Documented in dramatic fashion in “The Social Network”, the subject film is an insightful and fascinating look at the creation of Facebook, the Internet networking site which has more than 500 million members. And it is easily one of the best films of 2010.

Directed by the accomplished David Fincher, based on Ben Mezrich’s controversial best seller, “The Accidential Billionaires” and written by acclaimed screenwriter, Aaron Sorkin (TV’s “The West Wing”), “The Social Network” documents the stutter step rise of Zuckerberg as the youngest billionaire in history. Along the way to becoming a billionaire, we realize that Zuckerberg used sketchy and questionable means in developing his idea. Sketchy enough it seems that he finds himself the defendant in two separate lawsuits regarding the creation of his social networking site.

One lawsuit, filed by his former best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), for approximately $600 million, alleges that Saverin is the co-founder of the site and that Zuckerberg improperly forced him out of the company. The other, filed by identical twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) and their friend, Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), alleges that their intellectual property was stolen by Zuckerberg following claims that they gave him the idea. Sorkin and Fincher move back and forth from deposition to flashback to deposition to lay out the entire tale.

From its opening moments, the film is a whirlwind viewing experience with Sorkin’s trademark dialogue flying quick and fast and David Fincher’s measured approach in documenting Zuckerberg’s rise to glory and eventual infamy. Hooking you in its opening moments and not letting go, “The Social Network” is as addicting a film as Facebook is as a website. At the center of it all is Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland), with a mesmerizing turn as Zuckerberg. Eisenberg, a fine actor thus far in his young career, slices and dices nearly everyone in his wake with razor sharp arrogance and social aloofness. Others have remarked, and I would certainly concur, that rare is the film which builds its tale around someone so acidic in his personality and demeanor. Eisenberg is in nearly every scene and never misses a mark. And as much as you may dislike the movie’s central figure, you grow to admire his uniqueness and unyielding desire to see his idea come to fruition. But at what cost are we willing to spend, socially and in this instance, financially, to see that idea become fully realized?

Eduardo Saverin is named the CFO of Zuckerberg’s start-up after putting up $1,000 in financing. The back story between Zuckerberg and Saverin is quite compelling as Sorkin and Fincher are able to detail the increased fragility between the two that moves from a crack to a chasm as Zuckerberg grows and expands his original ideas to allow people on the Harvard campus to network and communicate together. “The Facebook”, as it is originally dubbed, soon expands from Harvard’s campus to other campuses around the country, predominantly on the East Coast. Landing the site at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, brings it to the attention of Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the founder of Napster and a man completely drunk with his perceived fame as the “Internet Bad Boy.”

We also learn that the Winklevoss twins and Narendra claim that Facebook’s ideas came from them. After Zuckerberg’s “Hot Or Not” knockoff, FaceMash, crashes servers on the Harvard campus, Zuckerberg is approached by the triumverate to create a ways and means for Harvard students to dialogue with one another and interact. Zuckerberg agrees to help and then keeps the group at bay for weeks, his mind racing with new ideas. It is only after Zuckerberg registers the domain name for www.thefacebook.com, that he informs them that he has his doubts. An ethically challenged move for sure, but did he steal their idea? It is an arguable point on either side and watching the Winklevoss’ balance their temperament and anger with their status on campus as “Harvard Gentlemen” is a nice juxtaposition to Zuckerberg’s steamrolling personality.

The supporting performances are all strong and are, in true Sorkin tradition, written with just the right pinpoint of detail affording us a chance to understand and connect with who these people are. Justin Timberlake delivers a top-shelf performance as Sean Parker, crafting a character who is almost in and of itself a caricature. With limitless money available and a carefree lifestyle, despite surviving a suffocating lawsuit with the muic industry, Parker embraces his vilified celebrity status and Timberlake places Parker on a teetering edge of near constant elation and meltdown. He dazzles the whipsmart Zuckerberg and it is easy to see how and why he was brought into the fold.

Armie Hammer earns the unique distinction of playing the Winklevoss twins and delivers some of the film’s best lines. Hammer nails the two twins differing personalities expertly and gives a performance which I imagine will be underrated by the visual stunt of his achievement. Rooney Mara is every bit Zuckerberg’s match as Erica, the girlfriend who bows out in the film’s protracted extended sequence and may remain to this day, if this movie is to be believed, the one regret Zuckerberg may still carry with him despite his success.

“The Social Network” is not just a film that documents a prevalent and incredible invention that has integrated itself across generations of people all around the world. Rather unexpectedly, it is a film about the connections we have and those we may never have. The obvious comment and the film’s most obvious irony is that someone with such anti-social and repellant personality traits could design and create something that has brought countless millions of people together again, for the first time, or for the first time in a long time. The superficiality of a computer screen can never be as intimate and meaningful as a one-on-0ne conversation, but for Mark Zuckerberg, it may have been enough. With over 500 million users of his creation, it is becoming enough.

The most interesting dynamic in “The Social Network” is the fact that the film seems to have a bead on who we are as a society today and who we all may become in the years ahead. It is overreaching to say that one man’s idea will be the cause for friendships and interactions to be redefined forever, but perhaps most distressingly is the realization that connections on Facebook are valued to such a large degree. Every profile details the number of friends someone has, a sort of social status scorecard. For many people, the reducing or increasing in the number of “friends” is now an indicator of our place in life to some regard. And yet, if you believe “The Social Network”, it may have all originated out of one person’s inability to connect with one person, away from the computer screen, directly in a one-on-one social setting.

“The Social Network” may seem to be just another good movie when you watch it, but you will not forget it. In the days since I have seen it, the film embedded little moments within me which re-emerge from minute to minute and hour to hour. Snapshotting today’s cultural landscape is a near-impossible feat and certainly an overly ambitious one for a 2-hour movie. However, Aaron Sorkin’s script and David Fincher’s expert direction peel the layers back in revealing that in some respects, we are all Mark Zuckerberg. We simply want to be liked and be checked in on from time to time. In today’s world, with Email, cell phones, text messaging, Skype, Instant messaging, and Facebook, we always have someone at the ready to communicate with. Whether it is meaningful and trustworthy communication may not matter anymore, as it is now acceptable to just be contacted. And that may be the most revelatory statement I have seen in a film in quite some time.

Should I See It?

This is as timely and as necessary a movie to have come along in quite some time.

Aaron Sorkin’s fans and those who admire David Fincher’s films will be rewarded handsomely. This is as well-written and as technically accomplished a film as you will have seen lately.

The best kind of movie. One that stays with you long after its credits subside, this will provide lots of food-for-thought as you leave the theater or pop out the DVD.

It is an Oscar contender for 2010′s Best Picture, without a doubt in my mind.

For parents and the younger of Facebook users, this film is a stretch for its PG-13 rating. Scenes of sexual situations and drug use are quite strong, so parents should be warned.

Your name is Mark Zuckerberg (although rumors are that he has seen it).

If you have no interest in the Internet or think that Facebook is some kind of children’s book or something, I suppose that this is not the movie for you.

Dialogue heavy films can lose some viewers.