The Social Network

There are times when I’ve found myself obsessed with The Social Network (2010). I’ve watched it countless times, I’ve watched the “making of” documentary numerous times, and I’ve listened to both commentary tracks twice. Director David Fincher has taken Aaron Sorkin’s script, which could almost be described as two hours of people talking, and made it fascinating. For all the talking, this movie is not boring in any way.

It grabs our attention even as we’re still watching the Columbia Pictures logo, and the dialogue begins. It’s fast and intense, and we have to focus immediately or risk spending the entire movie a few steps behind what’s happening. This is not always true; there are segments where the dialogue is more about rhythm than content. When characters begin outlining in detail how they program websites, only a select few in the audience are going to know, or care, what they’re talking about.

The story opens with Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) having a drink with Erica Albright (Rooney Mara), who—in this film, anyway—might be responsible for getting the Facebook ball rolling. Mark is shown to be extremely intelligent, a bit arrogant about that, and, therefore, socially handicapped. He’s brilliant on the level of computer programming but doesn’t quite know how to relate to another human being, much less talk to a girl over drinks. What happens in the opening scene sets in motion a series of events that will eventually bring about the creation of Facebook.

So. Let’s get a few things out of the way. The Social Network is not about Facebook. It’s about the people who created it and how that came about. This is not a film about computer programming, but about personalities and how they can either click or clash. It’s about social networking in the real world and not so much about the internet. It’s not about the instruments, but the players.

Also, The Social Network is “based on a true story.” That’s what they all say. People complained that the filmmakers had access to the real Mark Zuckerberg but didn’t take advantage of it. Well, of course not. The screenplay is based on a book called “The Accidental Billionaires” by Ben Mezrich. They weren’t making a documentary. The goal was to tell a story and do it in an entertaining way. Have some things been changed? Of course, it’s a movie. Viewers who expect to find factual storytelling in a movie that’s “based on a true story” are fooling themselves.

Okay, back to the film. The first fifteen minutes are the setup, introducing us to most of the characters and establishing the tone and momentum of the entire story. Then the real structure of the film reveals itself as we cut between two depositions and events leading up to Facebook.

After Erica rejects Mark, he creates a site designed to let guys compare the portraits of college girls to decide who’s hotter. The site is so popular that the resulting “traffic” shuts down the server at Harvard. Zuckerberg gets in trouble with the administrative board but attracts the attention of twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer). They, with their friend Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), offer Mark the chance to build a social networking site that would be unique to Harvard.

Simultaneously, Mark has discussed the same concept with his friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), who will, as CFO, help fund the idea. Eduardo sets up meetings with possible investors to raise money to build what was then called The Facebook. Mark’s roommates are recruited as programmers. The site is an instant hit on campus, but the Winklevoss twins are convinced that Zuckerberg has stolen their idea.

Mark is soon driven to expand the site, but Eduardo’s methods of money-raising are slow and not very successful. And in walks Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake). Fresh from the Napster hoopla, Parker pretty much grabs Mark by the ears and pumps up the momentum. He has problems, which we eventually get to glimpse, but he’s able to set up meetings and attract investors along the West Coast. His efforts far surpass those of Eduardo.

I mentioned two depositions. One is for a lawsuit involving Mark versus the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra for “stealing” their idea. The other is for a lawsuit between Mark and Eduardo. As a possible manipulation set up by Sean Parker, Eduardo signs papers that essentially write him out of the company. “You’re gonna blame me because you were the business head of the company, and you made a bad business deal with your own company?” Mark asks. Sean Parker may appear in the movie to be slightly shady, but he’s clearly smart enough and savvy enough to help get Facebook off the ground. Eduardo, whether it’s wrong or right, can’t compete and gets left behind.

One brilliant sequence shows the Winklevoss twins competing with their rowing team at the Henley Royal Regatta. It’s photographed in a slightly different manner than the rest of the film and is also different because of its lack of dialogue. The music during this scene is a new version of Edvard Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross. (Incidentally, Reznor and Ross won the Academy Award for Best Original Score for their work on The Social Network.) There’s something thrilling about how this scene is put together. What does it have to do with the rest of the story? First, it shows the Winklevoss twins barely finishing in second place, which is a metaphor for their dealings with Mark Zuckerberg. Second, it takes us away from all the geekiness and computer speak and gives the audience somewhat of a short break.

The surprise performance in the movie is by Justin Timberlake. It’s ironic, really, having a Grammy award-winning singer play the man who invented Napster and tried to rip off the music industry. But Timberlake is very good here; he’s got the intelligence and charisma to seduce Mark and bring Facebook into The Big Time. Andrew Garfield, by contrast, makes Eduardo sympathetic as Mark’s only friend, but it takes him a long time to even comprehend what has happened.

At the center of it all is an unflinching performance by Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg. He has mentioned in interviews that there were certain things about the real Zuckerberg he tried to bring to the role, but is he playing the real Zuckerberg? No, he’s playing a character, and he does it wonderfully. He’s able to let the audience see his mind working faster than anybody else’s, completely focused on his goal, even to the point of losing his friends.

The Social Network, thanks to its directing, writing, and acting, is quite a ride, never slowing down enough for us to catch our breath. By the end, we’ve seen relationships shatter, but we can’t stop watching because it’s presented in such a fascinating way. One character in the film describes Facebook as “freakishly addictive.” It is, and this movie has had almost the same effect on me. But I did walk away from the theater convinced that the important thing to do was not spend more time on Facebook, but to spend time strengthening my connections with other people in the real world.

(Please note: This is not a family-friendly film; it is very PG-13.)