Love the enigmatic disjointed time sequence format by the way

Rating: 8/10 (31 October 2010)

The advertising of David Fincher's latest film misleadingly introduces a nagging expository sermon on the interlinking worlds of business and cyberspace; however, the film itself heartily agrees with the audience that the aforementioned notions have been tiresomely overdone and instead leads gives them a rousing good time venturing into the thrillingly vibrant lives of several colourful characters. It satisfyingly turns down the obvious option of trying to be deeply moving and meaningful – a hapless endeavour that would inevitably produce another unbearable saccharine bore – in favour of using the opportunity to let us relish the scandalous immorality behind Facebook's creation while it remains safely on the other side of the screen.
Computer enthusiast Mark Zuckerberg (brilliantly portrayed by Jesse Eisenberg) is the clever audacious youth miles ahead of the rest who coolly weaves a hazardous tangled web of crafty manipulative feats throughout the film. With a razor-sharp tongue and an unwavering confidence that some may find overbearing, although others may think it justified given his intellectual superiority, he casually and entertainingly parades about the world wielding his remarkable capabilities in a very Holmes-like fashion.
Along the way, Mark has a brush with a pair of brawny hot-tempered male twins (both played by Armie Hammer) who at least provided the inspiration for creating the internet giant, and end up suing him for what they belief was the theft of their intellectual property. He also makes ill-fated dealings with fellow networking entrepreneur Sean Parker, (a surprisingly well-cast Justin Timberlake) who effortlessly influences Mark and the audience with his rebellious charm and exciting ideas to secure a share of the company. Sean too carries a sense of fun and upbeat charisma as a movie character harmless in our world of reality.
Superbly written by Aaron Sorkin, to whom we have a great many pricelessly witty dialogue pieces to thank for, The Social Network is mostly a slick, stylish, glamorous and highly entertaining medley of ambitious backstabbing teenagers who are also understandably human, but the incorporation of their emotions is kept to a very sensible minimum. The more depressing scenes towards the end and the characters of Mark's loyal friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield), gentle ex-girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) and kindly lawyer Marilyn Delpy (Rashida Jones) manage to provide all of the sentimentality that is needed or wanted here.