In a few short years Facebook went from an idea to a worldwide phenomenon. Millions and millions of people, even yours truly, has a Facebook page. If you are one, or you’re curious how it all began, this is the movie for you.
“The Social Network” stars Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg, the creator of Facebook and, as we learn at the end of the movie, the world’s youngest billionaire. And that’s not giving anything away.
The story begins in 2003, when Zuckerberg is a student at Harvard. He really wants to do something big so that he can get some attention at the school and be asked to join one of the important clubs on campus. So he starts a website, which catches on, and then he’s asked by some older students to help them with their idea for a social networking site. He agrees to help them, but instead, he and a friend create what turns out to be Facebook.
Did he steal their idea? Did he cheat his best friend and partner out of his share of the Facebook fortune? The film is told, by director David Fincher, in a back and forth style. We go from the actual events in the lives of these college kids, to “flash forwards” of scenes involving the two lawsuits against Zuckerberg. The good news is this style works in the telling of the story and isn’t confusing.
Obviously the movie is based on a true story, but even if you didn’t know anything about the real lives of these people, the plot is pretty typical: Two friends start a business, things go well for awhile, a new guy gets in the way (in this case it’s Napster creator Sean Parker, played by Justin Timberlake), things start to go badly, and…”Here come the lawsuits”.
The success of a film about real-life people and events usually comes down to the performances, and everyone does a solid job here. Eisenberg is the stand-out (Oscar-buzz worthy), and Andrew Garfield, who plays the friend and partner is also good. He’s the new Spider-Man, by the way. And Timberlake shows he’s a real actor, though he doesn’t show-up until halfway through the movie.
My main problems with “The Social Network” are that not all of the scenes work together, so it does drag a little at times. And because there aren’t any good guys, there’s no one to root for and so the story didn’t really grab me emotionally.
“The Social Network” is rated PG-13 for some mild adult content. It’s appropriate for teens and up, especially those who are into computers and the internet. But most kids would probably rather “be on” Facebook than watch 2-hours of people talking about it.
On The Official Kid Critic Report Card, “The Social Network” gets a B. Many critics picked it as the best film of the 2010. It made my Top 10 (tie-10), but I’ll be very disappointed if it wins Best Picture come Oscar time.