Movie Review: The Social Network

As you might know, the 83rd Academy Awards will take place tonight.  The Social Network is one film that is up for multiple awards- best picture, best actor in a leading role, cinematography, directing, film editing, original score, sound mixing and writing.  What's it about?  The founding of the most popular social networking site in existence today- Facebook.

I finally had a chance to watch The Social Network last night, and I must say, I was very impressed and interested.  Even though some of the facts are exaggerated and untrue, the plot is an interesting storyline about the founding of Facebook and the subsequent lawsuits.  Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay, which was a tipoff that this movie was going to be excellent.  Sorkin is the same man responsible for bringing us The West Wing, A Few Good Men, and Charlie Wilson's War.  Director David Fincher is known for his dark, stylish thrillers- Fight Club and Panic Room.

Although Mark Zuckerberg is the brainchild, CEO, and founder of Facebook, according to the film, we have one woman to thank- Erica Albright.  In 2003, Erica breaks up with then Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg after a date that ended horribly.  Mark tried to impress Erica by showing off his intellectual prowess and it ended up being a turnoff.  Mark then races back to his dorm room, gets drunk, and writes a scathing, cruel blog post about her.  In his drunken rage, he is inspired to create a website that rates the attractiveness of female students when compared to each other.  To accomplish this, he hacks into the databases of various dorms around Harvard and downloads head shots and names of female students.  Within hours, the traffic to the site is too much for the Harvard network to handle and it subsequently crashes.  As a result, Zuckerberg is put on academic probation and becomes universally hated by Harvard's female community.  This sexist hot-or-not website was the precursor to Facebook.

Despite the negative backlash, Zuckerberg came to the attention of Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss, identical twins and member of Harvard's rowing team and their business partner Divya Narendra.  These three privileged students have an idea for a website called Harvard Connection, which would be an exclusive social networking site for Harvard students.  They needed a gifted programmer, so they contacted Zuckerberg and explained their vision.  Instead of helping them, Zuckerberg steals portions of their idea and approaches his best friend, Eduardo, informing him of his idea for what he calls "Thefacebook".  When the Winklevoss twins and Nrendra learn about Thefacebook, they decide to settle the matter as "Harvard gentlemen" but when Zuckerberg's site begins to expand overseas to England, they agree to sue him for theft of intellectual property.  Hence, one lawsuit.

Through a girl named Christy, Eduardo and Mark arrange a meeting with Napster co-founder Sean Parker.  At the meeting, Sean presents a business vision for Facebook similar to Mark's, but Eduardo is skeptical, noting Sean's controversial personal and professional history.  Before he leaves, Sean recommends they drop the "The" from Thefacebook.  Shortly after, Mark moves the company to Silicon Valley, California while Eduardo remains in New York seeking advertising support.  In California, Sean unsuccessfully tries to lure Mark into a world of wild parties, women, booze, and cocaine.  Zuckerberg would rather work on Facebook to a fault perhaps.  For instance, Zuckerberg did not even notice when Sean redrafted the financial arrangements to exclude Eduardo.  When Eduardo visits from New York, he is angered to find Sean living at their rented house making business decisions for Facebook.  The tension between Eduardo and Sean continues to grow and comes to a climax when Eduardo discovers that the deal he signed with Sean's investors has allowed them to dilute his share of the company from 34% to three hundredths of a percent.  He confronts Mark and announces his intention to sue him and the company.  Hence, two lawsuits.

Throughout the film, the viewer is taken back to the depositions against Zuckerberg.  It's an interesting framing device that connects the plot with what is happening in the lawsuits.

Overall, I loved every aspect of The Social Network.  In addition to Sorkin's superb screenplay, the acting by Jesse Eisenberg (Zuckerberg) and Justin Timberlake (Parker) was phenomenal.  Nine Inch Nails leader Trent Reznor wrote an excellent score and visually, The Social Network was gripping and well-made.  We will see if the selection committee at the Academy Awards agree tonight.