Will you be my friend?

Rating: 7/10 (1 October 2010)

Greetings again from the darkness. This is a film with good genes. It's based on Ben Mezrich's novel "The Accidental Billionaires", screenplay by Aaron Sorkin ("West Wing", "A Few Good Men") and directed by one of the best directors working today, David Fincher ("Fight Club", "Zodiac"). The film is dialogue driven and my advice is to shift your ears into turbo-mode to keep up. These Harvard types never stammer and are quite speedy in making their oh-so-clever points.
This film is not so much the history of Facebook as it is a glimpse into the individuals behind the idea. Foremost, of course, is Mark Zuckerberg (played with rapid-fire tunnel vision by Jesse Eisenberg). The programming guru behind the code, Zuckerberg is depicted as a guy who is not just socially inept, but also unaware of social mores and code. I am not sure if he is best described as a prodigy, genius or even (possibly) a sufferer of Asperger's Syndrome. Whatever he is/was, he became a billionaire in his early 20's by proving he could put together the world's dominant social network while having no redeeming social skills of his own. Fascinating.
Zuckerberg's best and only friend (and business partner) is Eduardo Saverin (played by the next Spider-Man, Andrew Garfield). Saverin fronted the money to get Facebook started and was one of the parties who borough suit against Zuckerberg claiming he was cheated out his place in the company.
The third key player is the infamous Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake). Founder of Napster and Plaxo, Parker manages to get his hooks into Zuckerberg and apparently was behind the snubbing of Saverin. This is the most charismatic role in the film (and real life), yet also the role that may have the most dramatic license taken.
The story is told in non-linear form, weaving multiple depositions from different lawsuits. One includes the Winklevoss twins from Harvard who claim Zuckerberg stole their idea. They later settled for millions.
As I said, this is not so much a history of Facebook as it is a display of the characters involved. These are all brilliant people who are also ignorant to the ways of the world. It seems they all have significantly different goals, yet never really stop to agree on strategy. Instead, the growth is non-stop, as is the back-stabbing.
Interestingly, the film uses a girl (Rooney Mara) in the opening scene as the single biggest influence on Zuckerberg's brainstorm. Her rejection of his self-centered speed-talking kicks his wheels in motion and his relentless energy never slows for the rest of the story. One thing is clear, Zuckerberg did not single-handedly create Facebook and there is little doubt some key people were given short straws along the way. No matter what really happened as all that was battled out behind closed records in the settlements. What we do know is that Facebook now has over 500 million users worldwide.
This is an extremely well crafted movie, though in my opinion, none of the acting is up to the script. It's a film that provides enough insight into the players and enough entertainment for the ticket. That's really sufficient. Coming next ... David Fincher is set to direct and Rooney Mara is cast as Lisbeth in the Americanized version of the fabulous Swedish hit, "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". So enjoy this one and look forward to that one!