Ah, the ironies

Rating: 8/10 (4 October 2010)

Terrific hatchet-job story of Mark Zuckerberg, genius, oddball, killer-competitive greedfreak, and perhaps Asperger-afflicted founder of Facebook. Whether I agree about the value of Facebook is not relevant to the worth of this film, as it is one of the best high tech film stories of the new millennium and revolves around what is now just so critical to many millions of people around the world.....internet social networking(OMG!).
Even though his mother may have overdone it with endless "be sure to close your mouth" admonitions in his youth(you'll see), Jesse Eisenberg was fantastic as the mind-in-his-head, maybe-inventor of internet social networking(but probably not, as shown)Zuckerberg, as was Andrew Garfield playing Eduardo Saverin, his his best friend and co-founder, maybe not as brainy but way more emotionally healthy. The rest of the cast was equally good, even Justin Timberlake was terrific, but with his outsized ego in full speed mode I am not sure he was "acting" as Sean Parker, the cocky inventor of Napster and world-class devious manipulator. This story sadly but powerfully showed so well that youthful vigor, uber-creative ideas, killer-competitive juices, and premier business connections and execution will always be the best allies to selling out all previously held moral/ethical principles for the sake of humongous bucks and great fame.
But, that said, the massive in-your-face ironies of the story were what was most interesting by far. Zuckerberg, as shown, was not social at all but wanted desperately to create a "social network". He also initially didn't care a bit about being rich, but he is now America's youngest billionaire ever. He also didn't think advertising was "cool" on Facebook and was initially repulsed by it, but now his resistance ethics are well past totally sold-out and Facebook makes billions every year in advertising and rivals Google as the net's biggest ad bank. How many more personal ironies could the filmmaker have shown about Zuckerberg? And, can they all be that true?
Thus, the story candidly displayed how easily and quickly one's honorable intentions can get left far behind when big money and fame arrives on the doorstep in truckloads. It also showed that even lifelong best friends and business partners are not safe when big success comes calling in its mask of many faces.
See this perhaps best film of the year and learn some great net business startup savvy and pitfalls, but try not to get sucked into the money-making end of it. At least try for a minute or two to make your mom happy.