The Makers and The Actors

The Social Network tells the story of Facebook. When I saw the trailer, I wasn’t all that impressed. I didn’t think watching the movie would be any more fun than reading a well-written non-fiction book about how Facebook started and became this huge phenomenon. But I had an invitation to see the movie, and I was a little intrigued. I mean, David Fincher (Se7en, Fight Club, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button…) was directing it.

When the opening credits rolled, I was even more intrigued. It was co-produced by the Oscar-winner producer Scott Rudin (No Country for Old Men, There Will Be Blood, The Truman Show…). The executive producer was (twice) Oscar-winning actor Kevin Spacey (American Beauty, The Usual Suspects, The Life of David Gale, Pay it Forward, 21…). The music was composed by Trent Reznor- a.k.a Nine Inch Nails, an industrial/electronic rock/metal singer/band. I really like Jesse Eisenberg’s acting (The Squid and The Whale, The Hunting Party). And among all these credentials, there was Justin Timberlake as an actor, in a Fincher movie. Well, as annoyed as I am by him as a singer, he doesn’t bug me much as an actor.

The Plot

Right after the opening scene, we are told most of the story in flashbacks as the present time is split between the two lawsuits Mark is facing. One from former best friend Eduardo and from two other Harvard students he was supposed to do business with. Both lawsuits are currently being handled in meetings with the lawyers.

Harvard undergrad, computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is a very smart, talkative and arrogant young man with less than impressive social or romantic skills. It is these qualities that get him dumped by his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara). So he gets drunk, blogs rudely about her and gets the idea to compare all the university girls he can find the pictures of in the internet, makes into a website called Face Mash and sends it to other male students. His helper is his best friend, Harvard Economics undergrad Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield).

This ends up crashing Harvard’s servers, giving Jesse a bad name academically and well, among girls. But two Harvard students – rich, successful and athletic Winklevoss twins Cameron and Tyler (both played by Armie Hammer) are impressed with what Mark is capable of. They, along with their best friend and business partner Divya (Max Minghella) offer him a gig. They want to create a social network for Harvard students. They have the idea, plans and the means and they need the creative programming of Mark. He accepts, but he already has a bigger idea on his own. A much better enhanced network, better than Friendster and Myspace. He needs the funding of Eduardo, so he offers him a partnership and makes him the CFO. He delays meetings with the Winklevosses and buries himself in making The Facebook (it had a “the” in the beginning)It becomes a huge hit, pissing off the Winklessvoss twins and Divya. They try to agree on an action to take and in the mean time, Eduardo and Mark are enjoying a popularity they never had before. They even enhance the network by integrating a couple of other universities. So Eduardo wants to monetize the popularity but Mark isn’t sure yet. This difference in opinion will only get more complicated as Napster’s inventor Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) loves the idea and meets them. Mark is fascinated by Sean’s reputation and attitude, while Eduardo hates his guts from the very beginning.

From then on, we see how The Facebook becomes Facebook, becomes bigger with Sean’s connections and eventually ruining the friendship of Eduardo and Mark, as the lawyers of each party try to prove their client has the right to the riches of this network, which has become universal in the process…

The result:

Well, it is pretty outstanding. It is a dialogue-heavy drama, yet the characters and their lines are intruging, interesting and everything happens so fast, you don’t get the chance to get bored even for a second during the movie’s 2 hours. The acting is just right and I have to say even Timberlake makes a decent Sean. It is a drama with its quite quirky funny moments and entertaining events. It is a must-see. While I wouldn’t go as far as to land the movie in IMDB’s top 250 films ever made, I have to say it has to be one of the best true events-based stories ever written and made. It was based on Ben Mezrich’s book The Accidental Billionaires and adapted to the screen by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, Charlie Wilson’s War, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, The West Wing, The American President, Malice…), another influential name in the movie credits.

If you have anything to do with internet – it doesn’t matter whether you are a social media enthusiast, internet marketer, business owner, entrepreneur or you just like to use Facebook, see this movie. If you are a Fincher fan, see what he can do with this kind of story.

7.8 on IMDB. (updated on January 1st, 2015.)

Favorite Lines:

Gage (lawyer of Winklevosses) : Mr. Zuckerberg, do I have your full attention?
Mark Zuckerberg: [stares out the window] No.
Gage:  Do you think I deserve it?
Mark Zuckerberg: [looks at the lawyer] What?
Gage: Do you think I deserve your full attention?
Mark Zuckerberg: I had to swear an oath before we began this deposition, and I don’t want to perjure myself, so I have a legal obligation to say no.
Gage: Okay – no. You don’t think I deserve your attention.
Mark Zuckerberg: I think if your clients want to sit on my shoulders and call themselves tall, they have the right to give it a try – but there’s no requirement that I enjoy sitting here listening to people lie. You have part of my attention – you have the minimum amount. The rest of my attention is back at the offices of Facebook, where my colleagues and I are doing things that no one in this room, including and especially your clients, are intellectually or creatively capable of doing.
[pauses]
Mark Zuckerberg: Did I adequately answer your condescending question?

**

Other Jesse Eisenberg Movies

Cursed starring Christina Ricci, Joshua Jackson & Jesse Eisenberg

The Hunting Party starring Richard Gere, Terrence Howard and Jesse Eisenberg