THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Dir. David Fincher US 2010

"You're going to be successful, and rich. But you're going to go through life thinking that girls don't like you because you're a nerd. And I want you to know, from the bottom of my heart, that that won't be true. It'll be because you're an asshole."

The Social Network has been getting a lot of comparisons to Citizen Kane since it came out. This is somewhat justified, as The Social Network will most likely be remembered not only as one of the best films of this year, but as one of the earliest retrospectives on the first decade of the 21th century. While Charles Foster Kane rose from poverty to greatness via a megalomaniacal desire to control the major media of his own era, Mark Zuckerberg came to revolutionize social media in our own time for similarly inscrutible reasons. Fincher's film is only about Facebook insomuch as it is about the ironic failure of one man to connect to the people around him in an era when doing otherwise is becoming less and less of an option.

Told via a framing story in which he is being sued by old enemies and former friends, the film begins with Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) being dumped by his girlfriend, Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), at Harvard in fall of 2003. In a fit drunken spite, Zuckerburg hacks the Harvard computer network and creates 'FaceMash', a beta version of what will eventually become Facebook. He is approached by a pair of preppy, uber-rich twins (both played by Armie Hammer, via the subtle computer trickery that Fincher seems to love now) who want to help him develop the idea in something greater. Along with his best friend and roommate Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), Zuckerberg steals the idea and runs with it. The rest is history.

Despite Seven (spelled Se7en if you're cooler than me) and Fight Club playing a major role in my teen movie-watching experience (I will also defend Alien 3 to the death), David Fincher seemed less appealing to me over this past decade. Zodiac was great, but Panic Room was kinda meh and I still have no desire whatsoever to see Benjamin Button. Given how sick I also am of hearing about Facebook, my interest in The Social Network was pretty low when it came out. Luckily, universally glowing reviews were enough to turn my head, and make me very glad I gave it a shot. This film does everything right, top to bottom. A lot is going to be said and written about this film, most of it more incisive and deep than what you're going to read here, but there are a few things I want to touch on in depth.

I've never seen the West Wing, but if the script for this film is any indication, Aaron Sorkin has certainly earned his reputation as one of the strongest voices in Hollywood. He wisely utilizes the framing structure I mentioned earlier to vary the tone of the film and foreshadow the ending that we all know is coming. The dialogue is razor sharp and surprisingly, consistantly funny. This goes a long way toward propelling the movie forward; given that most of the film is people talking or sitting at computers, the pacing could have become a huge problem, but the two hours fly by before you know it. Sorkin has a lock on a Best Adapted Screenplay nomination, no question.

The direction and editing do the appropriate job of elevating everything that works about the screenplay. There's a sense of excitment that pervades the entire film, placing you right along side the characters as the rocket to fame and fortune. In a way, the film plays a bit like the great gangster films of the past, where you know the characters are heading for disaster, but you can't help but have fun with them as they get there. Fincher makes the most of the locations as well, capturing the archaic chilliness of Harvard in winter and the grandur of the offices and clubs of Manhattan. The movie just looks great.

The biggest surprise for me ended up being the cast, populated mostly by unknown or lesser known actors. Jesse Eisenberg's work as Mark Zuckerberg should dispel any notions that he's a cut-rate Michael Cera and proves that he's a capable leading man, regardless of the genre he's working in. It's no surprise that the real Mark Zuckerberg is unhappy with his portrayal in the film. Eisenberg plays him as an Aspergers-at-best, sociopath-at-worst loser who's desire for recognition and validation belies his complete inability to form any kind of genuine relationships, romantic or otherwise. The film wisely builds him up as an underdog, surrounded by people who can't appreciate or want to profit off his genious, which keeps him sympathetic for most of the film and allows you to root for him despite him constantly acting like a douchebag. The other strong performance here is by Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, the founder of Napster who becomes the devil on Zuckerberg's shoulder, introducing him to a world of riches and luxury while exploiting him for his own ends. It's a flashy part to be sure, but Timberlake easily slips into the role, talking a mile a minute and flashing winning smiles while maintaining an air of affable menace. It's really easy to make fun of Justin Timberlake, but the guy has an eye for good parts and is consistantly great whenever I see him.

Honorable mentions to Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, easily the most sympathetic character in the film thanks to both his humor and his tragic friendship with Zuckerberg. I'd never seen Garfield in anything before, but I'm definitely sold on him playing Peter Parker in the Spider-Man reboot. Finally, props to Armie Hammer for both his awesome name and his CG-assisted performance as Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, the preppy twins who commission Zuckerberg to build the site that would eventually become Facebook. Even thought the characters never actually do anything wrong, Hammer plays them with all the entitlement and bravado that one associates with Ivy League schools that they end up making pretty effective antagonists. Incidentally, this movie made me feel a bit better about not getting into an Ivy. The culture there seems completely fucking insufferable. I prefer my pretension to be arty and bohemian, than you very much.

Final mention needs to go to the score, composed by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. Given his extremely progressive views on music distribution, Reznor seems an oddly appropriate fit for a movie about Facebook, but the music he's created for it takes it in an unexpected, but awesome direction. Often dark and bass-heavy, the score for this film would not be out of place in a horror movie, subtlely reflecting Zuckerberg's anger and despair and creating some genuinely creepy moments, specifically the opening credits sequence where Zuckerberg stalks through Harvard campus after being dumped. The music beautifully captures that colonial creepiness you get on a New England night in fall.

While I don't mind praising this film for most of the review, I will say that it makes a noticeable misstep when it comes to one of the female characters, an associate attorney working on Zuckerberg's defense team during the framing sequences. Her interaction with Zuckerberg puts to fine a point on many of the themes in the film and left me feeling talked down to when the rest of the film goes out of its way to respect the intelligence of the viewer. Luckily, she's played by Rashida Jones, which makes everything ok.

There's plenty more to be said about this film, but it won't be said here. As I mentioned earlier, this film is a shoe-in for year end awards, so I'd recommend checking it out now before it gets crowded out of theatres. Even if you don't use Facebook (yes, I'm talking to all three of you), it's definitely worth it. No one avoids Citizen Kane because they don't read newspapers.