"The Social Network" gives Nerds a bad name

Rating: 9/10 (13 October 2010)

Balzac said that "Behind every great fortune is a properly executed crime." According to David Fincher's film, "The Social Network," that statement fits his story all too well. In the first ten minutes of the movie, he firmly establishes that the lead character (Harvard sophomore Mark Zuckerberg played effectively by Jesse Eisenberg) is an unlikable, back-stabbing egomaniac nerd. His girlfriend breaks up with him in a noisy campus bar for being an (expletive needed) and his idea for revenge is to dash back to his dorm room and write a blog about her flat chest. In the middle of this nonsense, Zuckerberg decides to create a website for rating Harvard women. The project proves so popular (22,000 hits in a few hours) that Harvard's network crashes. He becomes a temporary college hero for his efforts and is soon enlisted by some of the school's elites (a twin pair of clueless WASPs from the rowing team) to finish the development of a "Harvard Connection" type of website for campus-use only. As Zuckerberg later tells his lawyers, "The came to me with a good idea, AND I HAD A BETTER ONE."
What transpires after that initial meeting with the WASP twins is unsettling and a chain reaction of events leads to a myriad of law suits and permanent bad blood. Zuckerberg destroys the relationship with his only friend and roommate (a Brazilian rich kid named Eduardo played by Andrew Garfield) who unwittingly funds the project. Eduardo has no idea that Zuckerberg's big "IDEA" is not his own and remains in the dark for most of the proceedings. He also evolves into the only main character in this sordid story who deserves the audience's sympathy. The clueless WASPs (played by Arnie Hammer with some trick camera work) finally end up suing Zuckerberg as does Eduardo when they all reach the boiling point. One of the best scenes in the movie is when the twins arrange a meeting with Harvard president Larry Summers and ask for his help and guidance in the on-going dispute. There is none forthcoming and Summers is portrayed as the "bureaucrat from hell" and more under-handed than Zuckerberg, if that's possible. In the middle of all this is Justin Timberlake as Napster founder Sean Parker. He's the worst one of the entire bunch and nearly makes Zuckerberg look semi-good. He wants to get in on the action with the now-renamed "Facebook" and ends up owning 5% of it for virtually doing nothing other than stabbing some people in the back and handing out some free cocaine.
As the final reel clicks in, Zuckerberg is sternly advised by his lawyers to write a lot of checks to everyone involved and settle out of court---which he reluctantly agrees to do. According to all reliable reports, he signed over a few billion dollars to the plaintiffs, but he retained the lion's share ($25 Billion). Besides making Zuckerberg look like a total bastard, director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin have nothing good to say about Harvard's elitist system and pecking order which reserves all the privileges for the wealthy and well-connected. They emphasize that much of Zuckerberg's misguided passion and revenge in creating Facebook is due to his frustration of being an outsider and for his total lack of any social skills. In other words, the greatest invention in history for on-line Social Networking was developed by a friendless nerd. It's kind of funny and ironic when you think about it. The end result is a great film about some very disagreeable persons with the exception of Garfield's character. The movie should garner some Oscar nominations including Best Picture. Highly recommended.