Film Review: The Social Network

My Facebook Status (September 26-October 1):
* "You change your mind like a girl changes clothes."
* There's this amazing film news and review site called High On Celluloid, and its writer is wicked smart. You should check it out.
* The girl who played Shannon on "Lost" is going to be in the next two "Twilight" films. Now I HAVE to see it. Right?
* This looks just like the room I got probed in. Are you a cat?
* My biggest complaint about living [here]: The theaters here are run by contrived idiots who have no idea what the hell they're doing!
* having one of those days, which seem to be increasing in frequency.
* five weeks in, my backpack is already broken, my shoes are falling apart, and things are just as uneventful. Not what I was hoping when I woke up this morning.
* If I talk about how magnificent "The Social Network" was, will Mark Zuckerberg personally ban me from TheFacebook?

When we think about what Facebook means today, it's a lot different from what it meant when we joined. When we joined, we thought of it as an easier way to communicate with our friends, therefore making it so that we don't have to always be with them in order to talk with them. Somewhere along the road, something changed. When people were alone, and everyone is at some point, they'd pour their souls out onto their Facebook, ignorant to the fact that most of the people listening were people that they barely knew. Some of their thoughts weren't even thoughts. They were just song lyrics they thought sounded neat. However, sometimes you say something that you wish you could take back. Unfortunately, as Rooney Mara states in The Social Network, "The internet isn't written in pencil. It's written in ink."

What's so amazing about The Social Network is that it reveals what the site truly meant to the man who created it, fictionalized though it may be. It doesn't take away from how much this film defines our generation. When thinking over the events of the film, it all ends up being a result of the opening sequence, when Mark Zuckerberg's anti-social behavior results in his girlfriend, Erica Albrite, breaking up with him. He's one of the smartest people out there, and that naturally means that he seems like a complete douchebag. When you look at the world from a more intelligent point of view, you quite obviously feel like they're lesser than you are.

Because of this one sad event in Mark's life, he would go on to have a drunken episode that would cause the Harvard network to crash. This would earn him widespread infamy, but also acclaim that would mushroom him into a chain of events that would lead to the biggest social networking site in existence. This could've easily been shaped as a rags-to-riches type of film, but that would be disingenuous to who the Zuckerberg character is. He has a very short attention span, he's socially awkward (his best friend being Eduardo Saverin, a wealthy economics major), and he's really one of the most emotionally cruel people I've ever seen onscreen.

This film moves by at an amazing pace, barely making you feel the two hour running time. The dialogue is rapid-fire, intelligent, occasionally witty, and if doze off for a few moments, you may miss out on something important. The last film that truly demanded the audience's attention this much was Inception. As the film goes on, things move into more emotionally trying property, and when we finally reach the tragic conclusion, you will walk out of the theater feeling sorry for Zuckerberg. If the events in this film turned out to be 100% truth, then it makes his recent contribution to the Newark school system so much more commendable. It's not trying to douse the fire of this film.


The performances in this film are absolutely breathtaking. Jesse Eisenberg successfully moves out of the shadow of Michael Cera, which I felt he achieved long ago, but now it's publicly certified by this film. We've seen him play such likable characters in films like Zombieland, but he really shows what he's capable of here. He also bares a striking resemblance to Zuckerberg himself. Andrew Garfield redeems himself after the misfire known as Never Let Me Go, and proves that it wasn't a mistake to cast him as the next Peter Parker. He's the one who will keep you emotionally grounded in this film, and is the key to making it work. I doubt this film would work with anybody else playing the role of Eduardo Saverin.

Justin Timberlake can act! It's a shock to all, but this film shows that he has something good going for him here. He plays the "villain" of the film, Sean Parker. He's what causes everything to collapse, and he's introduced in a slyly written scene with all the charm that he carries with him. Over the course of the film, we finally learn exactly how much contribution he actually gave to Facebook, and it isn't much. I truly hated this guy on the way towards the end. No matter how unbearably mean Mark can be, Parker is even more cruel. He is the Hans Landa of Facebook.

Two other brilliant performances came from Armie Hammer who played the Winklevoss twins that sue Mark over the idea for Facebook. He does a nice job weighing the different personalities of the two, even if we don't quite know whose name is which. It's like the Fred/George phenomenon in Harry Potter. Rooney Mara proves that she can handle The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and is such a quiet presence throughout this film. She only really has two scenes, but we go through this story knowing that it all started with her.

David Fincher does a brilliant job directing this film, and it may just be his best work to date. The critics sure think so, and I do as well. Aaron Sorkin deserves the Oscar to be simply handed right to him now, as his script easily surpasses anything else this year. The editing is similarly fantastic, as the film seamlessly jumps back and forth through time. The Social Network truly deserves the acclaim that it's been getting. It's not exactly the best film of the year, but it's one of them. It's a tragic portrayal of our time, and it will strike true for anybody who sees it. They won't be having conversations about the real life Mark Zuckerberg, so much as they will be talking about what Facebook really means to them these days. I have friends who have nearly 600 friends on Facebook. Think about who you're opening your life to.

A