David Fincher has proved that even a movie about the dawn of a social networking website can be interesting

Rating: 7/10 (21 October 2010)

Despite being a user of Facebook.com, I must admit I had some apprehensions about going to see "The Social Network." Even though Facebook is an internet phenomenon and even though there is plenty of history and conflict that went into the making of the multibillion-dollar website, I wasn't exactly ecstatic about seeing a movie about it. A cyberspace network can be addicting in the sense that you can talk to your friends in silence and such and according to an article in Forbes last year, Facebook is estimated to be worth nearly eight million dollars, but just how interesting would we expect a movie about it to be? Well, director David Fincher has taken the story behind this incredibly popular website, the stories of the people who created it, and weaved a movie that runs about twenty minutes too long, but is still quite engaging.
As the movie starts out, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), a nerdy, pompous computer brainiac has been dumped by his girlfriend and in a fit of stomach-stomped rage, decides to humiliate her in cyberspace via a blog and a new website in which female Harvard students are ranked in terms of how physically attractive they are. His trouble-raising prank catches the attention of three other students, who want his collaboration in producing a new social networking website, which would later evolve into a multibillion-dollar phenomenon, and the source for vicious, friendship-splitting conflicts.
"The Social Network" is really held up strong by its creative forces. Mostly because of the skills of director David Fincher, who I am predicting will finally win an Academy Award next February and will most definitely be one of the five nominees. Every single shot of this motion picture shows his craftsmanship and technical prowess. He also shows that he knows how to pace what might otherwise be dull sequences, by having them whip along quickly but still registering an effect. He also has very good actors in his cast. Jesse Eisenberg plays his character in an autistic, withheld manner; a young man torn apart inside but only revealing it under the most dire of circumstances. Armie Hammer was digitally integrated into many shots so that he could play the twin Winklevoss brothers and he magnificently generates two separate characters. Also credit the digital effects artists and the makeup department for making him look like two different people; I was thinking really hard if I had ever heard of Hammer's twin brother until I saw the ending credits. Joseph Mazzello also makes his biggest film since "Jurassic Park" as the brothers' jealousy-stricken comrade. Andrew Garfield is charismatic and generates sympathy with his performance and Justin Timberlake chews up every scene he's in as Sean Parker, another networking maestro. There's also a small part by Rooney Mara as Zuckerberg's ex-girlfriend and she does a wonderful job as well.
It is the combination of these talents that overcome some of the movie's shortcomings. Looking back on "The Social Network" I do still feel that it would have done better as a television miniseries, for that is the sort of feeling it generates. There just is not the firm, glue-applied narrative structure that typically builds the foundation for a movie. As such, about twenty minutes of the picture sort of drags. I must also confess that I only really cared for the characters because the strong performances and the spins the actors threw on them. Save for Timberlake, none of them had any really likable or three-dimensional characters to work on. In addition, the screenplay is a little jumbled, at times making it hard to determine at what point in time we are now setting ourselves. It flashes back and forth too quickly and a straight storyline would have been better.
It's not, in my opinion, one of the best movies of the year, but "The Social Network" is still a movie very much worth seeing. Part of the reason is that I am still amazed that anybody, even somebody like David Fincher ("Se7en") could make a subject as seemingly droll as this become lively and animated. I have no doubt that this movie will be be on the ballot lists for the Academy Awards next year and that its many overlooked talents will finally get the recognition they deserve.