Facebook is without a doubt one of the biggest things in our culture today. Just about everyone is infatuated with it. It has really changed the way you connect with people and it has become a major part of our everyday lives. Facebook was a revolutionary idea that changed the world as we know it. The Social Network brings us the origin story of Facebook and safe to say, it's not a pretty one.
The Social Network focuses on the life of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). Zuckerberg is a computer genius with very few friends. He is initially brought an idea from the Winklevoss brothers(both portrayed by Arnie Hammer) for a exclusive Harvard social network. Zuckerberg soon takes their idea and modifies it, makes it more complex and ends up founding Facebook. Soon Zuckerberg and his best friend and co-founder, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) are taking heat from everyone and from there, all hell breaks loose. Facebook continues to expand and that's when things get more complicated, especially when Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) gets involved. Parker's presence makes Zuckerberg more cocky and things to continue spiral out of control. Soon, Zuckerberg is facing legal action from The Winklevoss brothers and Eduardo for business dealings related to Facebook.
The Social Network is a film that I enjoyed a whole hell of a lot more than I thought I would. I thought it looked rather bland and I was skeptical how a film about the creation of Facebook could be any good. Throw that together with the insane hype behind it and I thought I would end up feeling underwhelmed. Needless to say, my expectations were surpassed substantially. This an enthralling and very well done film. Aaron Sorkin's script is very intelligent and sharp. The narrative is all over the place with flashbacks and the various court cases, Sorkin's script balances all of the events seamlessly. This is a rather impressive task considering how much is going on at the same time in the film. Sorkin is one of the more gifted screenwriters in Hollywood and his talents are on full display here. He takes what could have been an extremely dull and dry movie and makes it entertaining.
The acting is also pretty good. Jesse Eisenberg is pretty solid as Zuckerberg. Eisenberg hadn't really done much dramatic acting prior to this, but he shows he is more than up to the challenge. The film portrays Zuckerberg in a less than favorable light and Eisenberg nails the character's pretentious behavior. Zuckerberg is a douchebag who sells out his friends for more power and influences. His greed is truly sickening. The real acting standout in this movie is Andrew Garfield. His character, Eduardo, is the only character in the entire film that you sympathize with. His character is pretty much kicked to the curb when Zuckerberg starts getting successful. Garfield gives his character emotional depth and he makes his character the only likable person in the entire film. Everybody else is a fake,pretentious asshole and Eduardo is the only real and genuine person in the entire movie. Garfield's performance is excellent and I think he is the next breakout great actor in Hollywood.
The Social Network surpassed my expectations immensely, but I still don't think it's deserving of all the praise it's getting. I honestly don't think it should be nominated for Best Picture or win (it's the current frontrunner). Personally, I think only Eisenberg and Garfield deserve nominations. Eisenberg was nominated and rightfully so, but Garfield was omitted. I think this is a travesty, his performance was outstanding and certainly one of the finest that I saw in a 2010 film. Don't get me wrong, The Social Network is a very good film, it's just not as good as it made to be.
4/5 Stars
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