Much has been made about how realistic a portrayal is in the film. I just kept thinking that everyone in the movie was a big dick! – Will
The story of how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook.
Directed by – David Fincher
Written by – Aaron Sorkin, Ben Mezrich
Starring – Jesse Eisenberg, Rooney Mara, Bryan Barter, Brenda Song, Dustin Fitzsimons, Armie Hammer, Joseph Mazzello, Patrick Mapel, Andrew Garfield, Max Minghella, Calvin Dean, Aria Noelle Curzon, Barry Livingston, Marybeth Massett, Denise Grayson, John Getz, Rashida Jones, Henry Roosevelt, David Selby, Josh Pence, Shelby Young, Malese Jow, Victor Z. Isaac, Abhi Sinha, Mark Saul, Cedric Sanders, Justin Timberlake, Dakota Johnson, Inger Tudor
I’m willing to bet that the actual story behind the creation of Facebook is about as interesting as an average Saturday night around my house. Every once in a while it’s a big party but usually it’s just me playing vids and watching TV. I don’t really recall anyone doing much work in this movie at all but I do remember everyone being real big dicks! Could these guys possibly be this slimy in real life? I don’t know for sure and probably never will. Actually, I could care less really. All I know is that Fincher and Sorkin have crafted an exciting movie with smart dialogue about a subject that would probably put most of us to sleep.
Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg, co-creator of Facebook. While Mark is being sued left, right and center, we flash back to how Facebook came into being and how Mark wound up being sued by everyone in the first place. There still manages to be a lot of nerdy tech stuff going on and Eisneberg spends most of the movie talking so fast that it was hard to keep up sometimes. Partnering up with Zuckerberg is Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield). If Mark is the one building Facebook than Eduardo is the one financially supporting the idea as well as the guy trying to put together the business plan. At least he is until Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the guy behind Napster, shows up. Eventually Eduardo is pushed out of the company and becomes one of the people suing Zuckerberg.
Facebook is born from drunken night on the computer.
Just about everyone in the movie is portrayed as an asshole. Right at the start we watch as Zuckerberg destroys his relationship with Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) by acting like a total jerk. His character is now set up for the film as an egotistical smart-ass. When Sean Parker (Timberlake) shows up we’re treated to an even bigger asshole. Parker stomps around like he’s the king even though his big venture was Napster and we all know what kind of disaster that was. The only guy who isn’t trying desperately to crush someone else is Eduardo (Garfield). I just find it very hard to believe that everything is so one-sided when it comes to the characters. I just don’t think that you could survive that long being a dick to everyone around. Or maybe that’s why they’re rich and I’m not!
Sean Parker (Timberlake) manages to weasel his way into Zuckerberg's (Eisenberg) company.
For all the back slapping this movie has gotten I didn’t find it that spectacular. It’s very good but the obvious liberties taken with the true story and the fact that most characters are obnoxious pricks made watching a little hard for me. Going by the films portrayal, Zuckerberg is a bastard who thinks so highly of himself that he should be passing out from lack of air. He’s completely loaded, crushed the one friend he had, lost the girl he loved by being an ass and apparently stole the entire concept of Facebook from someone else. I gotta respect what the end result is but it’s hard to enjoy a character that’s such a dick! Eduardo is the nice guy of the movie so it was a lot easier to watch him, although a little painful because you know what’s coming his way.
Yes it’s a great movie but I just didn’t get into it as much as others seem to have. There’s plenty of talking and thankfully the dialogue is very well done. Sometimes it zooms by a little quickly and I wound up missing a few moments. You gotta be on your toes to catch everything in this one. It may not be the most realistic portrayal of how Facebook came about but it’s certainly an entertaining version that everyone should enjoy.
Under the marquee – Will
It really is the best film of the year, with dialogue that totally explains a generation based on the internet. Also, Eisenberg is just simply perfect here.
I enjoyed it but I don’t think it was the best of the year. The writing is great and Eisenberg surprised me. I wasn’t expecting him to be like that at all.
It’s top ten for me, for certain, top five easily. Best? I don’t know. It’s probably “the film” of 2010, as opposed to “the best film” of 2010. There’s a distinct difference there. “The film” of 2010 is the film that people will identify with the year almost right off the bat. And I think it’s fair to say that The Social Network is that film. Which is fine because it happens to be a really great one.
To me the liberties taken with the real story don’t matter much here, because the truth of the story is kind of hard to discern even looking at authoritative “sources” and because Sorkin’s script is so damn good. But most of all I think The Social Network is the kind of movie that proves that your protagonist doesn’t need to be likable.
I don’t mind my leads being obnoxious jerks, I just feel like I’ve seen a lot of those films lately like it’s the thing to do suddenly or something.
Maybe calling it ‘the film of 2010′ would work for me. I can see it fitting into that heading very well, more so than other films of the year. I just don’t see how it’s pulling ahead of some really great films from last year. I guess my tastes skew more towards a bloody finish though!
For a lot of people, The Social Network turns a mirror on the current generation and stands out as a generation-defining movie. I can understand that, even if the movie itself is directly about the creation of Facebook more than it’s about the culture of social networking that Facebook engendered. That said I don’t think it’s possible to make a movie about the birth of Facebook without commenting on that culture, which I think the film does. And so on. It’s “of the moment” completely, and that’s probably what’s pushing it over the top for so many people even if there’s more to it than just that sense of being topical.
Fincher recently commented that he meant the movie to be more about the irony found in the disintegration of friendships over the creation of a web service meant to strengthen and forge them, instead of being about a generation. Invoking death of the author and accepting that most generations don’t really get a say in what art does or doesn’t represent them, I actually find that intent to be pretty moving, and it lets you read the movie in a different light. And of course I had to go back to Devin Faraci’s review of the film in which he discusses how The Social Network is a movie about why people invent things, which I also like. I’ll have to give the film another viewing sooner or later with these things in mind.
But I guess my point is that there’s a lot to take from it, and that’s probably why so many people are going all nuts over it and such as that.
I just find it hard to believe that a lot of the movie going public would bother to look that deeply into any film. I always find it strange how a completely mindless film will generate millions of dollars of income and then the next week something so much more in depth will do the same thing. I couldn’t imagine having to market something now! HAHA!
Fincher’s comment actually gives the film a different tint than the first time I watched it and would probably alter a second viewing of the movie. I just found that the movie didn’t engage me at all. Much the same as an action film might, I just kind of watched, heard and enjoyed. It’s all matter of fact which you can’t avoid. You’re presenting a film that is based on fact (maybe that term should be used very loosely) and it’s not like you can throw in a surprise twist like Zuckerberg is really the devil or something!
A good film but I just didn’t feel like it challenged me to think about anything except maybe to groan to myself about the nuisance of social networking that is almost unavoidable now!