West Wing: Student Edition

Rating: 7/10 (19 January 2011)

I knew I wasn't going to like this movie. It's about some snotty, elitist, privileged kids at Harvard who don't have to work at Pizza Hut to get through school so they have plenty of time to enjoy their lives and join social clubs that will ultimately populate the West Wing. No worries about health care here.
But, curiosity got the better of me, and I finally broke down largely because of David Fincher whose storytelling abilities i admire, his films being favorites--Seven, Benjamin Button, Zodiac. Facebook does not quite fit the list. Although I hated the movie, largely because of its a-hole protagonist--I admired the filmmaking--the cinematography, musical score, and narrative flow were sublime.
I hated the West Wing cadence of the dialogue and wonder if the actors had to be trained to talk that way. The only writer & filmmaker who can do that superbly in my view is David Mamet. Here--really, all the West Wing cast kept swimming before my eyes.
The other problem with this movie for me--nobody likes an a-hole kid protagonist. The guy lied and stole ideas from friends and acquaintances--the American way. No wonder Goldman Sachs put so much of its blood money into the company.