Culch.ie

Review: The Social Network

In autumn 2003, after being dumped by his girlfriend, Harvard student and computer whizz kid Mark Zuckerberg had an idea. This idea was to create a version of hotornot.com solely focused on students at the university. The site was quickly shut down, but not before it had received 250,000 hits in just a few hours. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss hear of Zuckerberg’s technical know how and invite him to help them create an online community exclusively for Harvard students – the Harvard Connection. Refining the Winklevoss twins’ initial idea, Zuckerberg creates The Facebook, an immediate success. This film tells the story of the early years of Facebook and the accusations Zuckerberg faced about intellectual property theft.

Jesse Eisenberg, as Mark Zuckerberg, plays a somewhat tragic character. Zuckerberg created a website designed to connect and bring people together, yet he seems unable to hold down a single friendship and is apparently clueless when it comes to human interaction. By the end of the film Zuckerberg is not only being sued by those who – it is claimed – he stole the idea from, but also by his best friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield) who was with Facebook from the beginning. As soon as success became involved – money did not seem to register with Zuckerberg – he turned away from those who were with him from the start and went with the person whose know how could make Facebook most successful.

Eisenberg has been dubbed ‘the other Michael Cera’ and audiences seem to confuse the two due to the fact that they have played similar roles in the past. In The Social Network, Eisenberg moves away from this stereotype once and for all. While Eisenberg plays a character that should, ultimately, be unlikeable for his seeming inability to connect with other people, his motor mouth tendencies and acute awareness of his own abilities but somehow Zuckerberg becomes the character that the audience roots for – regardless of their feelings about Facebook as a site. The supporting cast is outstanding. Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin) – yes, the new Spiderman – plays the straight man wonderfully and allows Zuckerberg’s eccentric genius to show through, in this way playing the perfect foil for Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg. Garfield’s performance shows Eduardo Saverin to be a young, slightly naïve, man overwhelmed with the sudden gold rush surrounding (The) Facebook. Garfield’s performance is understated and subtle, yet he captures the audience’s attention every time he in on screen. Special mention also has to go to Armie Hammer for his fantastic portrayal of the Winklevoss twins.

Of course, the film stars Justin Timberlake, and while he plays the ‘rock star’ Sean Parker (of Napster fame) he manages to engage both Zuckerberg an intellectual and emotional level to allow Facebook to become the biggest social networking site to date. Timberlake obviously enjoys his role as the magnetic Parker and, once again, allows Eisenberg to move to the fore.

David Fincher has created a subtle and restrained film in The Social Network. The film is not demonstrative and loud like Fight Club, nor is it haunting and eerie like Panic Room. It is gentle and understated; it is this that draws the audience in and, just as Facebook crept into our lives, this film quietly captures our attention. Gone are the sweeping track shots that Fincher is so famous for, and in their place a dialogue heavy film that does not pander to the audience, but makes the mathematical and legal jargon accessible and easy to understand in relation to their impact on the plot. In fact, it could be said that Fincher’s film is as crisp and clean as the layout of Facebook itself.

The only minor complaint, and this is a small one, is that the Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay (based on Ben Mezrich’s book) portrays women – with the exception of Rashida Jones’s Marilyn – as either airhead groupies or unpleasant and selfish.

Overall, The Social Network is an engaging behind the scenes look at a website that was created to bring people together but ultimately, drove Zuckerberg and his friends apart.