The Social Network

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If The Social Network was, say, a link David Fincher posted on his Facebook page, you would like it, share it, and leave a comment along the lines of "OMG Greatest Thing EVER!!!!" (Because where would the Internet be without hyperbole?) But in this case, your enthusiasm would be entirely justified.

Working from a jewel of a script by Aaron Sorkin, Fincher's examination of how socially awkward, brilliant computer programmer Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) made billions of dollars creating Facebook, and in the process alienated everyone who came close to him, opens with a sharply written breakup scene between Harvard sophomore Mark and his then-girlfriend. Written, delivered, and crisply edited with rapid-fire wit that recalls not just Sorkin's best work but rivals such classics as His Girl Friday, the scene explains everything you need to know about the film's off-putting antihero. Namely, he's hyper-intelligent, he's smug about that fact, and he can parse words -- his own and others' -- as finely as a lawyer arguing in front of the Supreme Court. After he's cluelessly callous to her, she dumps him, whereupon Mark drags his broken heart to his dorm room, starts drinking, blogs about how terrible she is, and creates a website where people rate the relative hotness of girls at Harvard.

When his stunt crashes Harvard's Internet, Mark faces disciplinary action, but it also earns him enough notoriety that he gets a call from the Winklevoss twins, upperclassmen in good standing at Porcellian, one of the school's elite final clubs. They ask Mark to create a social-networking program for Harvard students, and he agrees. However, instead of shaping that site, Mark enlists some financial help from his best -- and only -- friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), and creates an even better version of that idea. He calls it "The Facebook," and after it goes live their creation takes over Harvard, and they soon expand to other college campuses.

Although the fledgling company quickly finds its wings, trouble looms as the Winklevosses position to sue the company. Eventually the high-rolling, hard-partying Napster creator Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) sets his sights on Zuckerberg, worms his way into the inner circle, and attempts to get Saverin thrown out of the company. Now, with everybody suing everybody, and billions of dollars and broken friendships hanging in the balance, the principals shuttle back and forth between multiple lawsuits.

One of the big reasons The Social Network remains enthralling from beginning to end is the spectacular work by the cast, who take full advantage of the flawless script. Eisenberg seizes the opportunity he's given, capturing and amplifying the worst aspects of Mark's personality, but all the while you never question the character's massive intelligence -- he seems like the kind of guy who would be able to create something as consequential as Facebook. He's an antihero, but we don't exactly root for or against him -- we just need to see what will happen to him. He's paired beautifully with Garfield, who makes Saverin's endless patience with the prickly -- and often pricky -- Zuckerberg not just virtuous, but sweet. Saverin is the audience stand-in, and when he gets his heart broken it's a chilling, if thoroughly expected, ending to a fascinatingly complicated friendship. Even Justin Timberlake finally lands a good part in a good film, and oozes smarmy charm so effortlessly that it's easy to see why someone as awkward as Mark would be drawn in by his high-energy BS.

Visually, this might not be the kind of film we immediately think of when throwing around the term "Fincher-esque." Outside of a rowing race shot in a tilt-shift style that makes everything look like miniatures, there are no bravura sequences -- just whisky-soaked golden-brown interiors at Harvard, and sleek, cold meeting rooms where the characters are forced to give deposition after deposition. But the film's multiple thematic interests tickle Fincher's ongoing desire to tackle big ideas, and with elements such as the modern generation gap, the battle of the sexes, loyalty, and how the desire to get laid drives all social networks, rest assured this is, as the opening credits tell us, a David Fincher film.

Nonetheless, it's also Aaron Sorkin's film. His dialogue here has a rhythm that not only allows the bon mots to hit for maximum comic effect -- you will remember many quotes from the movie -- but it also offers Eisenberg the chance to shine with a handful of monologues that are as potent and hard-hitting as the most entertaining diatribes in Paddy Chayefsky's Network.

However, the film The Social Network most brings to mind is All the President's Men. Fincher takes a true story we already know the ending to and, with sizable help from Sorkin's razor-sharp characterizations and one-liners, creates a ceaselessly entertaining and compulsively watchable portrait of what may prove to be the defining social event of a generation. ~ Perry Seibert, Rovi

• Jesse Eisenberg : Best Actor - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Adapted Screenplay - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2010
• Angus Wall : Best Editing - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2010
• Kirk Baxter : Best Editing - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2010
• Andrew Garfield : Best Supporting Actor - British Academy of Film and Televisio, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - Directors Guild of America, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2010
• Atticus Ross : Best Original Score - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2010
• Trent Reznor : Best Original Score - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2010
• Jesse Eisenberg : Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture - Drama - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2010
• Andrew Garfield : Best Performance by an Actor in a Supporting Role in a Motion Picture - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Screenplay - Hollywood Foreign Press Association, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - L.A. Film Critics Association, 2010
• Atticus Ross : Best Score - L.A. Film Critics Association, 2010
• Trent Reznor : Best Score - L.A. Film Critics Association, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Screenplay - L.A. Film Critics Association, 2010
• Jesse Eisenberg : Best Actor - National Board of Review, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Adapted Screenplay - National Board of Review, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - National Board of Review, 2010
• Jesse Eisenberg : Best Actor - National Society of Film Critics, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - National Society of Film Critics, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Screenplay - National Society of Film Critics, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - New York Film Critics Circle, 2010
• Jesse Eisenberg : Best Actor - Screen Actors Guild, 2010
• Justin Timberlake : Best Ensemble - Screen Actors Guild, 2010
• Jesse Eisenberg : Best Ensemble - Screen Actors Guild, 2010
• Max Minghella : Best Ensemble - Screen Actors Guild, 2010
• Armie Hammer : Best Ensemble - Screen Actors Guild, 2010
• Andrew Garfield : Best Ensemble - Screen Actors Guild, 2010
• Josh Pence : Best Ensemble - Screen Actors Guild, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Adapted Screenplay - Writers Guild of America, 2010
• Jesse Eisenberg : Best Actor - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Adapted Screenplay - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Jeff Cronenweth : Best Cinematography - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Angus Wall : Best Editing - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Kirk Baxter : Best Editing - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Atticus Ross : Best Original Score - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Trent Reznor : Best Original Score - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Michael de Luca : Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Scott Rudin : Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Ceán Chaffin : Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Dana Brunetti : Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Mark Weingarten : Best Sound Mixing - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Ren Klyce : Best Sound Mixing - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• David Parker : Best Sound Mixing - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Michael Semanick : Best Sound Mixing - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sc, 2010
• Jeff Cronenweth : Best Cinematography - American Society of Cinematographers, 2010
• Donald Graham Burt : Best Art Direction in a Contemporary Film - Art Directors Guild, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Adapted Screenplay - Austin Film Critics, 2010
• Jesse Eisenberg : Best Actor - London Film Critics Association, 2010
• Andrew Garfield : Best British Supporting Actor - London Film Critics Association, 2010
• David Fincher : Best Director - London Film Critics Association, 2010
• Aaron Sorkin : Best Screenplay - London Film Critics Association, 2010

• Soundtrack

  

  • The Social Network [Original Score]

  

  CD $7.99
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• Genre Drama

  

  • Lincoln
  • (Widescreen)
  • Rated: PG13

  

  DVD $29.99
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• Director David Fincher

  

  • Seven
  • (Widescreen)
  • Rated: R

  

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• Studio Sony Pictures

  

  • The Amazing Spider-Man
  • (Widescreen)
  • Rated: PG13

  

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