An overall good, yet over-hyped ride

Rating: 8/10 (18 July 2012)

I've got to admit, I was not entirely enthusiastic about a movie based on Facebook. For one, I didn't really enjoy the website and I didn't see why everyone was so obsessed with it. Secondly, I didn't think that the material in the movie would be all that fascinating, seeing as it was about making a website. Big Whoop.
But boy, was I wrong. While the basis of this movie is about building a website, the fundamentals are not. At the heart of this movie are the relationships that were built, the relationships that grew, and the relationships that were lost. What sucked me in was not all the mathematics and computer mumbo jumbo (something that, as a non-computer scientist, I didn't understand). Rather, the dynamics between the characters are what resonated with me.
Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg with such a delicate mix of iciness and shyness, that in some scenes you don't know which one he is really portraying. He pulls of the fast dialogue really well, and although you tend to fall towards the "hate" side throughout the movie, by the end he'll still manage to leave you feeling sympathetic to his case(Although I have to say, if this is Mark in real life, the movie did not do much to make him look heroic). Andrew Garfield does a spectacular job of playing Eduardo Saverin, Mark's best friend and initial co-founder of Facebook. He conveys a sympathetic, honest and kind spirit about Eduardo, and we can all root for him as well as relate to him. This is a story of a friendship gone wrong, and in the climatic final scene, when Garfield really lets loose, is when the performance is at its strongest. Other notable characters are Justin Timberlake who proves he can act (and FINALLY be hated!) as a slimy, get under your skin, all around annoying Sean Parker (which means he is doing his job well, seeing as that was the goal) as well as Armie Hammer, who impresses by donning a double role as the winklevoss twins.
Overall, don't see this movie for girls (who did not add anything special to the plot and shouldn't have even been there), or even really for facebook. But see it for the impressive portrayals and for the relationships built. You'll root for some, you'll hate some, and overall, you'll enjoy the movie.