"..You pretentious d*uche bag!"

Rating: 7/10 (1 February 2012)

B+
Despite avoiding the direct title, this film will forever be known as the 'Facebook movie'. In the same fashion as Oliver Stone's "Wall Street", this film's focus is on the greed for money and thirst for power that drives people. I hear people constantly go on about how the film was shot, and yes, I acknowledge that it does look rather fantastic, with a fine polished look to the images.
And the performances do surprise you. I'm not familiar with Andrew Garfield, but he did quite well. Brenda Song of Disney channel stars, who I thought would anger me, actually serves up a nice performance. Armie Hammer I must definitely give kudos to and Timberlake, another popular pop icon, does very nicely. And then we come to Jesse Eisenburg, the perpetual Gordon Gekko of the movie. Now the problem is, I don't care what any critic says, Eisenburg literally kept the same facial expression during the ENTIRE movie. His talent lay in several smart-aleck quips he delivers thru out the run time, culminating in his eventual hollow victory. At least it's portrayed as hollow, seeing as he sits there refreshing a Facebook page belonging to a girl he humiliated. Speaking of which, because I assume the character was an ex, I had no idea today's college students, with all our texting, e-mails, and whatnot, actually passed notes in classrooms, but I digress.
The tactic is clear, to tell a story about the abandoned morality of the business man, fueled by a contemporary techno-like score I didn't care much for, leaving us with a climax where a substantial profit is made, some profit more than others, and man ya character feel cheated and no one appears truly happy. IT's charming to look at but like Eisenburg's character it feels hollow. Director Fincher definitely knows how to tell a story, and how to say mouthfuls about his characters (some of them), but the story everyone praise seems off to me. I'm not a guy who roots for the hero; after all, I find Michael Douglass' portrayal of Wall Street tycoon Gordon Gekko to be one of my favorite roles of all time. I deeply enjoyed the character, but the ones here I repeat, just come off as hollow.