I just clicked my metaphorical ‘like’ button for David Fincher’s 2010 movie The Social Network, based on the founding of the popular social networking website known as Facebook. The film stars Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, and Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker. I was eager to see this successful blockbuster adaption of the story behind Facebook, and was not disappointed.
The movie opens to Haverd student Mark Zuckerberg (Eisenberg) testifying in depositions against two lawsuits. In a series of flashbacks, we see Mark discussing the importance of status amongst the students of the school with his girlfriend Erica (Rooney Mara), who afterwards, dumps him. Later that night in his dorm Zuckerberg disrespectively blogs about Erica and while drunk creates a website to rate girls based on their attractiveness through comparison, calling it ‘FaceMash.’ He recieves six months of academic probation due to the traffic of the website shutting down Harvard’s network and the violation of the female community.
However, the fact Zuckerberg hacked into the databases of several local residences while intoxicated and the site recieved over two-hundred thousand hits in one night attracts the attention of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer), members of the rowing team for Harvard, and their business partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), who ask him to program a website for them known as ‘Harvard Connection.’ Mark tells his best (and only) friend Eduardo about the idea of online social networking website called ‘Thefacebook’ exclusive for the students of Harvard. Eduardo agrees to provide $1000.00 for the launch of the website, which immediately becomes popular throughout the student body. The Winklevoss’ discover of Mark’s website, and enragged, consider sueing. *Continue reading to see the second half of the plot.*
Eduardo and Mark, at a lecture by Bill Gates, meet Christy Lee (Brenda Song) and her friend Alice, users of thefacebook, who invite them to a bar where Mark runs into Erica, unaware of facebook due to its Harvard bounderies. He decides to expand the website, while Cameron Winklevoss, determind not to resort to sueing, accuses Mark of violating the Harvard student Code of Conduct. However, Harvard president Larry Summers (Douglas Urbanski) is unimpressed and dismisses the idea of disciplinary action. Via Eduardo’s now girlfriend Christy, he and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster co-founder Sean Parker (Timberlake). While Eduardo is skeptical of Parker, Mark is very impressed and wants to work with Sean, who proposed they drop the ‘the’ for Thefacebook.
While Eduardo remains in New York seeking advertising support, Mark relocates the corporation to Palo Alto. Due to Facebok’s continuing growth in popularity, the Winklevoss’ decide to sue. Eduardo returns, and is upset with Mark for living in the house they rented and making business decisions on his own. Eduardo freezes the account and returns to New York, where Christy questions why he hasn’t changed his Facebook relationship status yet. He tells her he don’t know how to, and believing he is lying, burns the scarf he had brought back for her as a gift. Putting out the fire and ending their relationship, Mark reveals across the phone they have secured money from an angel investor via Parker. Eduardo later discovers that Parker’s investor’s deal he signed allowed them to lower his share of the company from 34% to 0.03%, while the ownership percentage of the other parties maintained as they were. Enragged, Eduardo threatens to sue. Later, celebrating Facebook’s one millionth member, Sean and several other interns are arrested for cocaine possesion.
Mark is informed by a junior lawyer for the defense they will be settling with Eduardo, since the morally-questionable background of the founding of Facebook and Zuckerberg’s personality will unlikely please a jury. Alone in the office, Mark friend-requests Erica, and as subtitles detail the successful future for Facebook, Zuckerberg and Saverin, he consistently refreshes the page.
Due to universal critical acclaim and a steady box office run, I was eager to see The Social Network. Facebook, with more than 600 million active users today, wasn’t something I expected to see as the next summer blockbuster theme. I was pleasently suprised. Eisenberg, Garfield, and Timberlake all provide outstanding, emmy-worthy performences (I have a little more hope for Marc Webb’s Spider-man film franchise reboot with Garfield casted for Peter Parker after seeing his performance in The Social Network). The chemisty between the trio is very complicated and moving, but also quite unlikable. Zuckerberg is portrayed in a more geeky and greedy take, determined to satisfy the need of being accepted in the social life of university. Eduardo, his only companion, sues him for $300, 000, 000.00 by the end of an emotional development between the two. And Sean Paker, Napster-owner, is the deceitful manipulator of their business. These three roles are the roots of the film; sculpting a very impressive drama and story. It wasn’t the most exciting plot, but kept the audience focused and never feeling bored with the film. And despite several differences from the factualy history of Facebook, much of the film was enjoyably-accurate and informative.
I don’t know if this movie will appeal to everyone. It’s slow at times and never really delivers the ‘wow’ factor we’ve seen in other movies this year. The cast, while professionally executing their roles, aren’t likely to appeal to the audience, due to consistent unintelligent choices throughout the film (Eisenberg’s way of speech is also alien to the ear at first, but you won’t take long to adapt to his rapid dialogue and strange voice). The Social Network doesn’t offer much (or anything) to those looking for action or science fiction or romance. It’s simply an interesting, if forgetable, drama about the search for self-satisfaction. “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”