The Origins And Evolution Of Facebook

Rating: 8/10 (2 January 2011)

As someone who is admittedly a fan of Facebook (although I'm certainly no addict - at least that's my story and I'm sticking to it and I'm going to post it as my Facebook status just so everyone knows!) - I have been looking forward to seeing this movie about the origins and early evolution of the most successful social networking site on the internet. It does not disappoint. It's a fast-paced (some might say frenetically paced in places) account of how Mark Zuckerberg became (as the movie notes in its closing captions) the youngest billionaire in the world by developing the site, and of the various relationships that were built and destroyed in the process.
Jesse Eisenberg was absolutely convincing as Zuckerberg, who comes across in this as the stereotypical computer geek - he has a certain nerdy likability, but nevertheless has few social skills, few friends and an obsession with computer programming. Zuckerberg's basic personality - or at least what this movie wants us to think is his basic personality (I've never met the guy, so who knows if it's true) - is brilliantly brought out in a hilarious opening scene of Zuckerberg on a date with Erica. The date goes horribly wrong. Due to his social ineptness, Zuckerberg insults Erica without meaning to and without even realizing it, gets told to take a hike and then angrily goes back to his Harvard dorm, gets drunk and still proceeds to blog about the experience in terms quite insulting and embarrassing to Erica, while at the same time developing an immediately popular website that manages to insult a significant portion of the female population at Harvard. His work brings him to the attention of the Winklevoss brothers, who want to set up a social networking site for in house use at Harvard and enlist Zuckerberg to help them. The rest, as they say, is history, as Zuckerberg takes their idea and builds on it (without giving them any credit.)
Zuckerberg doesn't come across well in this. He's arrogant and egotistical - and yet at the same time there's admittedly a certain admirable quality to him. He's devoted, committed and totally unconcerned with money. But he also comes across as easily manipulated, falling in with Napster founder Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake) - who comes across far worse than Zuckerberg - who helps him build Facebook, but at the expense of his relationship with his friend (perhaps his only real friend) Eduardo Savarin (Andrew Garfield), who had been the co-founder of "The Face Book," its only investor for a long time, the company's CFO and had devoted himself to trying to hustle advertising to generate revenue. If there's a truly sympathetic figure in this it's Savarin, who ends up being almost totally cut out of Facebook and escorted by guards out of the company's California offices.
The movie revolves around a couple of legal proceedings. Zuckerberg (obviously after Facebook has become a mega-success) is being sued by both the Winklevoss brothers and Savarin, and the story unfolds as testimony is offered in the respective cases. It's fascinating to watch, and for anyone with an interest in social networking or who is in any way connected to others via Facebook it has to be rated as a must-see movie.