Director: David Fincher
Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (based on the book by Ben Mezrich)
Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake
Music: Trent Renzor, Atticus Ross
Time: 120 minutes
Bottom-line: A top-notch screenplay by Sorkin and good direction by Fincher make this film a brilliant fast-paced, entertaining drama
Fincher and Sorkin provide a highly entertaining story in The Social Network. With great acting, accompanied by fast and catchy dialogues, this film is almost flawless. Released at a time when people thought that Facebook was the greatest creation on the Internet, this film explores the darker side of the founding of Facebook, and also tells the viewers that the creation of Facebook wasn’t a happy one for all the members behind it.
The story begins in the fall of 2003, when Mark Zuckerburg (Eisenberg), after breaking-up with his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), creates ‘Facemash’ while being drunk. The popularity of the site publicizes his programming talent, which is recognized by the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer), and their colleague Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), who are also programmers. They decide to share their idea of a dating site, exclusive for Harvard alumni, with Zuckerburg.
However, Zuckerburg decides to approach his friend Eduardo Saverin (Garfield), with an idea of a social networking site, exclusive to Harvard students. Zuckerburg later meets Sean Parker (Timberlake), who tells Zuckerburg that he can expand the site to two continents. Mark’s friendship with Sean makes Eduardo jealous. This is the underlying story of how the creation of Facebook affected the friendship between its founder and co-founders. Does one leave a good friend if something better comes along, or does one stick with a friend through thick and thin? Eduardo tries to separate Mark from Sean, but his simple methods for advertising do not work in the modern world.
Once the site becomes popular among the university students, the Winklevoss brothers and Divya sue Zuckerburg for intellectual property theft. The remaining story is about how Facebook affects the friendship between Zuckerburg, Eduardo and Sean, and what happens to Facebook.
The story is told in two timelines: one timeline which takes place in court, where Zuckerburg is sued by the Winklevosses, and another timeline where Zuckerburg and Eduardo narrate the incidents taking place before and after the founding of Facebook, till Zuckerburg is sued in court.
Once you see this film, many of you may lose your respect on Zuckerburg. Though he is a programming genius, his mind cares about on himself: he is ready to sell out his friend for profits and he starts the company without giving any credit to the twins. Now people are complaining about Facebook being a voyeur. Is this what ‘the greatest creation on the Internet’ is all about?
The things to ‘like’ about the film are mainly the dialogues and acting. Mark has many catchy dialogues throughout the film. Mark’s dialogues bring out his sarcastic nature, especially in the court. In the rest of the film, his dialogues are of a cool person who is ready for anything that happens: no shocked statements, no anger. Eisenberg has acted very well, though his authenticity of playing Mark can be told only by people who have seen the real Mark Zuckerburg. Andrew Garfield has done a good job in expressing multiple emotions throughout the film. Eisenberg’s acting is kind of stone-faced, but he makes up for it with his fast catchy dialogues.
The editing has been done very well: many scenes from the court and the flashback are shown back and forth very fast: while a dialogue begins in the courtroom, the camera immediately cuts to the flashback, to complete the dialogue. The boat race that takes place in the film has also been shot well. Few scenes could have been cut, like the scenes of the party shown in the beginning, but otherwise, the film is neither boring nor going off track except for very few scenes here and there.
Now, about the score: while many other critics praised the score of the film, I didn’t find anything that interesting in the score: in my opinion, Hans Zimmer’s score for Inception (also released in 2010) was way better than the score of this film.
To conclude, The Social Network is a great film. Sorkin has done an excellent job with the script and dialogues and Eisenberg and Garfield have given their best in acting. Good editing and few comic scenes also add to the plus points. Whether you like Facebook or not, this film will definitely be one of your favorites.
My Rating: 5/5
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%
Screenplay: Aaron Sorkin (based on the book by Ben Mezrich)Cast: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake
Music: Trent Renzor, Atticus Ross
Time: 120 minutes
Bottom-line: A top-notch screenplay by Sorkin and good direction by Fincher make this film a brilliant fast-paced, entertaining drama
Fincher and Sorkin provide a highly entertaining story in The Social Network. With great acting, accompanied by fast and catchy dialogues, this film is almost flawless. Released at a time when people thought that Facebook was the greatest creation on the Internet, this film explores the darker side of the founding of Facebook, and also tells the viewers that the creation of Facebook wasn’t a happy one for all the members behind it.
The story begins in the fall of 2003, when Mark Zuckerburg (Eisenberg), after breaking-up with his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), creates ‘Facemash’ while being drunk. The popularity of the site publicizes his programming talent, which is recognized by the twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer), and their colleague Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), who are also programmers. They decide to share their idea of a dating site, exclusive for Harvard alumni, with Zuckerburg.
However, Zuckerburg decides to approach his friend Eduardo Saverin (Garfield), with an idea of a social networking site, exclusive to Harvard students. Zuckerburg later meets Sean Parker (Timberlake), who tells Zuckerburg that he can expand the site to two continents. Mark’s friendship with Sean makes Eduardo jealous. This is the underlying story of how the creation of Facebook affected the friendship between its founder and co-founders. Does one leave a good friend if something better comes along, or does one stick with a friend through thick and thin? Eduardo tries to separate Mark from Sean, but his simple methods for advertising do not work in the modern world.
Once the site becomes popular among the university students, the Winklevoss brothers and Divya sue Zuckerburg for intellectual property theft. The remaining story is about how Facebook affects the friendship between Zuckerburg, Eduardo and Sean, and what happens to Facebook.
The story is told in two timelines: one timeline which takes place in court, where Zuckerburg is sued by the Winklevosses, and another timeline where Zuckerburg and Eduardo narrate the incidents taking place before and after the founding of Facebook, till Zuckerburg is sued in court.
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| Garfield as Saverin (left) and Eisenberg as Mark |
Once you see this film, many of you may lose your respect on Zuckerburg. Though he is a programming genius, his mind cares about on himself: he is ready to sell out his friend for profits and he starts the company without giving any credit to the twins. Now people are complaining about Facebook being a voyeur. Is this what ‘the greatest creation on the Internet’ is all about?
The things to ‘like’ about the film are mainly the dialogues and acting. Mark has many catchy dialogues throughout the film. Mark’s dialogues bring out his sarcastic nature, especially in the court. In the rest of the film, his dialogues are of a cool person who is ready for anything that happens: no shocked statements, no anger. Eisenberg has acted very well, though his authenticity of playing Mark can be told only by people who have seen the real Mark Zuckerburg. Andrew Garfield has done a good job in expressing multiple emotions throughout the film. Eisenberg’s acting is kind of stone-faced, but he makes up for it with his fast catchy dialogues.
 |
| Timberlake as Sean |
The editing has been done very well: many scenes from the court and the flashback are shown back and forth very fast: while a dialogue begins in the courtroom, the camera immediately cuts to the flashback, to complete the dialogue. The boat race that takes place in the film has also been shot well. Few scenes could have been cut, like the scenes of the party shown in the beginning, but otherwise, the film is neither boring nor going off track except for very few scenes here and there.
Now, about the score: while many other critics praised the score of the film, I didn’t find anything that interesting in the score: in my opinion, Hans Zimmer’s score for Inception (also released in 2010) was way better than the score of this film.
To conclude, The Social Network is a great film. Sorkin has done an excellent job with the script and dialogues and Eisenberg and Garfield have given their best in acting. Good editing and few comic scenes also add to the plus points. Whether you like Facebook or not, this film will definitely be one of your favorites.
My Rating: 5/5
Rotten Tomatoes Rating: 96%
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