Film Review: 'The Social Network'

David Fincher’s The Social Network will be a top contender for the Best Picture Oscar next year, I guarantee it. I’d bet money on it.

Movies depend on so many components working in sync with each other. Look at the credits following any film; all those names had some hand in bringing said film to the silver screen.

The Social Network is a shining example of these components coming together to form a well-oiled movie machine that works on every level. I walked out of the movie feeling so many different things, and I’m sure that’s exactly what Fincher and crew intended.

Every actor in The Social Network is pitch-perfect in his or her role. Jesse Eisenberg, who began to drive me crazy after playing the same character in Adventureland and Zombieland, blew me away as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. He delivers his dialogue with the perfect mix of snarky sarcasm and dry wit. He becomes the character.

Andrew Garfield plays Zuckerberg’s former best friend and Facebook CFO, Eduardo Saverin. One of The Social Network’s biggest strengths lies in the way the audience’s allegiance shifts. One minute I was rooting for Zuckerberg, the next I hated him. Then I rooted for him again. This strength depended just as much on Garfield’s performance as Eisenberg’s. As one of Zuckerberg’s opponents in one of the two lawsuits presented in the film, Saverin needed to be played strongly as well as sympathetically. Garfield pulled this off masterfully. The three-way confrontation between Zuckerberg, Saverin and Sean Parker towards the end is perhaps the biggest showcase of Garfield’s talents. I’ll just say this: the guy can play angry very, very well.

The plaintiffs in the other lawsuit against Zuckerberg are the Winklevoss twins (the Winklevi, as Zuckerberg calls them), played by Armie Hammer and Josh Pence. It’s extremely amusing to watch these guys as they learn that Zuckerberg has taken their idea for a Harvard social networking site and is turning it into a worldwide empire. They inject the roles with anger and emotion, and the term “scene-stealing” wouldn’t be an entirely inaccurate description of their performances.

On a side note, people probably won’t recognize Pence because Hammer’s face is used for both twins. Prior to seeing The Social Network, I read that Fincher and company had done some digital facial work for the movie, but I couldn’t locate it when I actually saw the film. I just assumed Hammer had a twin. I guess that’s a testament to Fincher’s uncanny attention to detail.

And of course, we have Justin Timberlake, who steps into the role of Napster founder and entrepreneur Sean Parker. As played by Timberlake, Parker is a massive douchebag. He’s an opportunistic leech who latches onto Zuckerberg’s idea and does his best to profit from it. Timberlake plays the role perfectly. You’ll want to smack the guy by the end.

The real stars here, however, are Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. The film moves along at a breakneck pace; it’s never boring and never slow-moving. Scenes never drag on. Fincher and Sorkin get right to the point, and the movie is better for it. The Social Network is a two-hour movie, but it feels half that length.

The dialogue is astoundingly well-written; props to Sorkin for that. From the first scene, which features Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara, Fincher’s future Girl With The Dragon Tattoo), I knew this script was something special. This is especially true with Zuckerberg’s dialogue throughout the film. He’s the programmer we all met in college who thinks he’s better than you because he can hack whatever. Except this guy became the world’s youngest billionaire.

The Social Network is a very discussion-worthy film. My sister and I were discussing the plot the moment we left the theater. We discussed our opinions regarding the outcomes of the lawsuits, the characters, who was right and who was wrong, and more. It was a fun discussion that was applicable to the real world, and movies don’t bring about those types of deep discussions very often.

The Social Network is one of the best movies I’ve seen this year, perhaps second only to Christopher Nolan’s Inception. It’s a briskly-paced, wonderfully-written, well-acted, beautifully-directed piece of cinema. So many of the great movies seen these days are period pieces; this one takes place during the past decade, and it’s all the more relevant for it. Don’t miss this one.

Note: The Social Network is based upon Ben Mezrich's book "The Accidental Billionaires". Many have raised questions regarding the book's accuracy. These concerns are probably legitimate. Fincher's film never flashes the "based on a true story" line to the audience. I walked in assuming I'd be seeing some fiction, and I definitely did. The film is no less great because of this, however. There's an excellent article over at New York Magazine that goes into detail about these embellishments. The MTV Movies Blog summarizes these nicely. Go check them out.