The Social Network: Review

Imagine. Billions of people are logging onto their PCs/laptops to go onto Facebook, the phenomenon of the 21st century. Very few people in this world don't use it so when it was announced that a film about the beginning of Facebook was being made, I thought to myself, 'Really? How interesting is that going to be?' How wrong I was. In the hands of director David Fincher and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, The Social Network is an incredible piece of work and the first true Oscar contender.

Mark Zuckerberg is a Harvard student who manages, in one night, to alienate his ex-girlfriend and create a website that crashes the Harvard system. The young is, on one hand a genius while on the other, a hideous, thoughtless monster. So impressed with his web antics, two top rowers, the Winklevoss twins, and their friend invite Zuckerberg to help get their dating website off the ground. However, Zuckerberg has bigger ideas, and with capital coming in from his best friend, Eduardo Saverin, they create TheFacebook.com, and without them really knowing, it becomes an almost overnight success, with hundreds of University students logging in. As the project gets bigger, so the problems start to creep in; the Winklevoss angry that it was an idea they had, want retribution, while the relationship between the founding members are pushed when former Napster creator Sean Parker comes onto the scene, and what was once a close friendship is tested.

I once accused Jesse Eisenberg of being a lesser version of Michael Cera. I take that back immediately. Jessie Eisenberg, in the role of Zuckerberg, is superb. Managing to be both hateful and sympathetic is a hard balancing act but the young star handles it with great aplomb. You feel for his plight while at the same time wanting to slap his face. A difficult role for any actor but Eisenberg does it well. Andrew Garfield (soon to be the new Spider-Man) plays it pitch perfect as Eduardo, the friend who becomes his worse enemy. Even Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker is very good, firing lines story after story at great speed, it's a winning role for the popster. The rest of the cast do well and even Brenda Song, who is so incredibly annoying on The Suite Life, proves she can actually act, as Eduardo's girlfriend.

Director Fincher does sterling work, never once making the film look fussy or trying to dazzle us with effects and flashiness. He has a tale to tell with a talent cast and so he lines up every frame beautifully while making it look effortless. The one scene he does throw in a trick or two, at the Henley Regatta, somehow fits perfectly in a dream-like world that the twins live in. Fincher doesn't need tricks though when he has one of the best scripts to hit the screen in years.

Aaron Sorkin, the writer of The West Wing, has managed to make every line sing. Crisp dialogue that you feel is like poetry. It's witty, it's engrossing, it's intriguing and if it doesn't walk away with best Adapted screenplay this year then the Academy should sack itself. Trust me, it is that good. Most times you wouldn't even notice the dialogue but there are so many classy lines in this film you cannot help but sit up and take note.

Never would I thought that a film about a website be this good. It's one of Fincher's finest works and should put him up there with some of the great directors, and Sorkin should be applauded for creating words that you could listen to forever.