Not the best movie ever, but still highly entertaining

Rating: 8/10 (13 October 2010)

The Social Network is a 2010 drama film directed by David Fincher (Se7en, Zodiac). It is essentially a story that tells the drama that ensued during, and following the creation of Facebook. Starring Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's creator, the story is told through flashbacks as Mark is being simultaneously sued by two separate parties. The first party is Mark's former best friend and business associate Eduardo Saverin, (Andrew Garfield), while the second is a pair of twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer).
What's really surprising about The Social Network is how engaging the entire production is. Even when nothing all that important is going on, it's set up in a way that makes you want to see more. The vast majority of the film is just dialogue, from really smart people, but it is exciting to watch. To me, that's really impressive, especially given the fact that the film doesn't move at a quick pace. It's a slower paced film, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing, especially with the way the film plays out. Despite being on the slow side, it's very exciting, and never gets boring. This excitement may actually come from how well you get to know the characters.
I'm not sure how accurate a job the film does at representing the characters within it, but the film does do a good job at characterizing them all. You actually end up feeling worse for the people suing Mark, than for Mark himself. Zuckerberg acts like a jerk for the majority of the film. He's unlikable, and ends up losing his girlfriend before the opening credits. His former best friend, Eduardo Saverin ends up not being in the film for a good portion of the final half, but really is the character that ends up being empathized with the most. He more or less gets cheated out of the company by Mark, and is abandoned mid-way for Napster founder Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake). Parker is far less serious a person than Saverin, but promises Mark that Facebook will take off if he comes on board. The other main characters, the Winklevoss twins, also get deceived by Mark. They came up with an idea similar to what Facebook ended up being, and they hired Mark to program for them. He ended up turning around and creating a basic version of what is now known as Facebook.
By the end of the film, you end up caring about all of the characters, even if you don't want to. Like mentioned above, Mark Zuckerberg is a jerk, and while you don't like him for that, he's built up in such a way that you will end up caring for him. Each of the other characters gets enough screen time to develop as well, and this is brought out by the excellent acting done by each actor. They really all do a great job bringing their characters to life, and do it with consistency. There are not really any times where a character acts unexpectedly, or their emotional response doesn't relate to the current situation. The subtleties of acting all appear to be there, and for that, I'm quite grateful.
I am not, however, grateful for the way the story was told. It's not so much the idea of flashbacks being the driving point of the story, but it's the fact that this storytelling idea gets constantly pushed aside after the film takes off. There are 30 minute sections at a time where this tactic is forgotten about. Having flashback sequences that long is a maneuver that I didn't feel worked out all that well. If given a couple intermissions, where the present day interactions occurred, even for a minute, it would have been a great way to tell the story. As it is, it ends up being fairly meaningless. The only other grip I really have with the film is the CGI used during one scene. Mark and Eduardo go outside into the cold, and their breath seems really fake. By far one of the pettiest gripes I've ever had, but it did eliminate some of the immersion that the film tried so hard to have.
The Social Network is a film that works on almost every level. It's engaging, entertaining, well made and well acted. It's a solid package of everything required in a film coming together. It has real tension, the characters are well-developed, and while they aren't all likable, you'll end up caring about them all. While the flashback structure of the film doesn't always work the way it should, it ultimately is a decent way to show the story, instead of just jumping forward in time. If nothing more, it's the best film I've seen so far from David Fincher, and it's an impressive film to watch.