Movie Review: The Social Network

Way back when, your author used to fancy himself a movie critic. And on occasion, some people he hasn't talked to in a while will immediately ask if he still reviews movies. Since he usually has to begrudgingly admit that he is still waiting tables instead, there will occasionally be movie reviews posted here at BMC—not necessarily new or even the most recent releases, but still technically reviews—just so he can say he indeed still bitches about what's getting too much/not enough attention. Reviews will offer a quick take that ends with a brief summarizing thought that, in the spirit of Metacritic or Sound Opinions, will be in green (denoting a positive opinion), yellow (mixed opinion) or red (negative opinion). And sorry, but no star-ratings or letter grades.

Today's review: "The Social Network," originally released September 24, 2010 at the New York Film Festival.


THREE THINGS I LIKED:

1. NOT THE STEREOTYPICAL NERDS — This isn't the traditional Hollywood version of nice, dweebish fellows who are just hoping for a girl to give them a shot. Rather, Jesse Eisenberg's version of Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg is decidedly sarcastic and unlikable, yet complex and fascinating. Even Justin Timberlake has a genuinely charismatic aura to him when he shows up as Napster founder Sean Parker.
2. DAVID FINCHER AND AARON SORKIN MAKE QUITE THE CONNECTION — These two should really work together more often. In addition to meaty, rapid-fire dialogue throughout, there's very little that's stylistically showy in The Social Network. But it's actually a testament to how engrossing the film really is when two seemingly yawn-inducing activities—the testimony of a deposition hearing and typing at a computer—still maintain a mood of suspense.
3. IT'S ACCURATE ABOUT THE MOST IMPORTANT ASPECT — Whatever real-life details about the site's creation that The Social Network misses or embellishes, it's still hones in fairly well on what made Facebook so popular and got half a billion people to sign up: the technological shift to a more impersonal version of "socializing" done from a distance, treating friends as a collection of information and everyone's universal desire for broader acceptance through a newfound medium that a younger generation could call its own.

THREE THINGS I DIDN'T:

1. FOR A MOVIE SUPPOSEDLY DEFINING THE 21ST CENTURY, IT'S DEPICTION OF HARVARD SEEMS TO BE OUT OF THE 20TH — While the movie takes place in the Aughts, Zuckerberg's time at the Ivy League feels straight out of a time even decades older. Part of this is thanks to the overly cartoonish deluxe WASP twins, Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer), who accuse Zuckerberg of stealing their idea. While the film stresses a desire to get into Harvard's private clubs for an elite status as one of the reasons for Facebook's creation, most of the depictions of that college life feel so stock or exaggerated that it's hard not to meet them halfway.
2. IT'S A MAN'S WORLD? — There's certainly girls in the film, but as Stephen Colbert noted in his interview with Sorkin, very few of them are given any depth or much to say. They're almost all tech-groupies who are relegated to being drunk or high while listening to the guys talk. Rashida Jones gets to play a lawyer with a bit more to say, although it serves mainly as exposition ("You're not an asshole, Mark. You're just trying so hard to be"; "Creation myths need a devil"; etc.). The most substantive female would perhaps be Rooney Mara's Erica Albright—who dumps Zuckerberg in the movie's opening scene and then subsequently becomes a symbolic equivalent of "Rosebud." Speaking of which ...
3. CITIZEN KANE COMPARISONS ARE A LITTLE MUCH — Fincher invited this comparison when he jokingly called his film "the Citizen Kane of John Hughes movies," but that hasn't stopped some from rushing to draw the comparison. Lets slow down a bit on overstating the greatness here. The Orson Welles classic spanned its main character's entire life, and fictionalized the name of its real intended target (William Randolph Hearst). Comparatively speaking, The Social Network operates on a smaller scale, feeling more like an appetizer in comparison to Kane's smorgasbord. 

25 WORDS OR LESS:

If you can put aside your quibbles about its real-life accuracy, then The Social Network is as sleek and enthralling as they come.