Highly entertaining -and you don't have to be on Facebook to enjoy it!

Rating: Null/10 (17 September 2011)

I really enjoyed this movie. It was written by "West Wing" creator Aaron Sorkin so don't be surprised that the the plot quickly and an amazing amount happens on screen even though the movie is less than two hours long.
Of course Mark Zuckerberg has strongly disputed the truth of what is in the movie. However it is certainly based on indisputable facts. The phenomenon that is Facebook was created by Zuckerberg and some friends at Harvard and subsequently there was a lot of legal wrangling and compensation was paid by the company. However I think most viewers are probably aware that this is the most entertaining possible version of what actually happened.
The acting is also top class. Eisenberg nicely underplays it as Zuckerberg. As those around him get upset about various things Zuckerberg gives nothing away and leaves all his "friends" guessing as to what he really thinks, while getting on with what he is best at - nerdy computery type stuff. Justin Timberlake also impresses as Sean Parker, the one man who seems to be able to influence Zuckerberg.
Don't worry. You don't have to be on Facebook or even own a computer to "get" this movie. Zuckerberg might just as well be called Guttenberg and be inventing the printing press. The movie is about people, what makes them tick, why they pick their friends and discard them and what happens when someone invents something amazingly successful. It deals with a particular type of person - male Harvard undergraduates- but they have the same hang ups (ego, status, petty jealousies between friends, how to succeed with the opposite sex) as we do. Zuckerberg himself realises that Facebook will be more successful the more he understands what people want it to do for them.
Zuckerberg is richer than entire nations and there is undoubtedly an element of "schadenfreude" as we observe that super intelligence and vast wealth doesn't bring him happiness. Not in this version of his life anyway.
A funny, sad, self confident movie that is brilliantly written, acted and directed.