“If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook,” said Mark Zuckerberg. This defines the CEO and founder of Facebook, or that is how he is portrayed in Columbia Pictures film “The Social Network”, released Oct. 1.
“The Social Network” was overall impressive and well balanced. Director David Fincher and screenplay writer Aaron Sorkin showcase Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) as a brilliant individual, wickedly condescending at times and completely fascinating as a character.
Zuckerberg never endorsed this film and in an interview on Oprah Sept. 24 said, “Its my life, so I know its not that dramatic.”
Adapted from the book “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich, this film follows the start of Zuckerberg’s journey at Harvard University, where he lays out the groundwork with a few friends for what will eventually become the cultural phenomenon of Facebook.
Along the way he makes several new acquaintances and creates a couple enemies to eventually becoming the worlds youngest billionaire. Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) and their friend Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) had been planning to start their own social website for their club members, but the entire matter turns into a huge lawsuit over allegations that Zuckerberg stole their idea.
The most notable, is Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the creator of Napster. Timberlake was an excellent actor.
This is the story of how all those events came to take place and the success of the film largely hinges on how well that story is told.
The films greatest strength was the acting. Strong performances all around helped the success of the film including what would be considered to be standout roles by Eisenberg and Timberlake.
However, there are not only two names that deserve recognition. The cast as a whole was outstanding and although this actress had only a small role as the love interest of Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), I particularly enjoyed Brenda Songs’ character in the film. Song did a terrific job of providing comic relief in a film where I never expected to be laughing at all. To my surprise, “The Social Network” had some great comedic scenes.
It grabbed my attention from the opening scene to the final credits. Its pace flowed fluidly and naturally and the characters complimented one another perfectly.
It had done that so well for such a sustained amount of time that you can’t help but be disappointed when the story finally does end.
That is where the “The Social Network” disappointed me because the filmmakers did such a good job to keep you immersed to where you didn’t realize you were watching a film and then ended abruptly. As if it were a little bit rushed.
“The Social Network” is a well made film and the production values are shown through the end. It was extremely witty and entertaining at times. So unless you want to be the last of your friends to see this, I recommend you watch this as soon as possible because it’s definitely worth your time and money.