The Social Network Review

*****ASSIGNMENT********

Alright, part of my communications homework was to watch The Social Network, a movie about the thing that changed the way we communicate with others. Right off the bat, this isn't that much about Facebook. It plays a key role in it, but the movie is not about Facebook. It's about the character Mark Zuckerberg and the lawsuits against him. The movie is seen through three different viewpoints. Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), Eduardo Saverin(Andrew Garfield), and the Winklevoss Twins(Armie Hammer).

The movie starts off with Mark Zuckerberg and his girlfriend Erica Albright (Rooney Mara) in a bar talking. The audience gets to see what kind of person Zuckerberg is in the opening minutes during their conversation and the opening credits. Zuckerberg talks about how he is wanting to get into a Final Club, and spouting off about random stuff as well. Erica tries to keep up with him, and then things get a little tense, in a humorous way for the audience. The banter between the two of them was hysterical and then the following scene is literally a minute of him just running through the streets all the way to the Kirkland house(his dorm). The way David Fincher executed these two scenes made me feel a little more comfortable sitting in the theater. The opening sequence could have gone wrong, but it was fresh and executed in a timely manner.

I'm not going to say much about the plot because I don't want to spoil it. Zuckerberg gets dumped by his girlfriend in the first minute, he runs back to his dorm, starts blogging and says some things that shouldn't be said, and then he starts working on a site called facemash.com, not facebook. A site where people can rank two girls side by side. He crashes the server and gets his name spread around the Harvard campus. That's all I can say really before the movie starts getting deeper and deeper. The movie moves pretty quick, talking too much about it will take the freshness out of the movie.


The casting was absolutely perfect. David Fincher, the director, hit the nail right on the head with the casting. No one did terrible at all and all put up magnificent performances. When I came into the movie, I thought it was going to be Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake making witty cracks at each other. It's not. Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer steal the show. Not to take away from Eisenberg's or Timberlake's stellar performances.

Speaking of Eisenberg, I can't stress how well he did. His portrayal of Zuckerberg was Oscar-worthy. I've always liked Eisenberg. I loved him in The Squid and the Whale, and I liked him in Adventureland and Zombieland, although he played basically the same character. But, he is not that character in this movie.

Zuckerberg is a guy stuck in his own world. You are going to hate him at times, you are going to laugh with him at times, and you will feel sorry for him at times. He is self-centered, egotistical, and is a very jealous person. He screws a lot of people over. He is basically an anti-hero. You love it when he is a dick, because that is who he is, but wonder if he is wrong when he gets too out of hand. Yet the audience knows that he is troubled, because he has that lifeless look on his face. He is regretful about some of the things he has done, and feels terrible for some of the things he did. You really question his true motives at times. Did he do this, or did he mean to screw him over. Zuckerberg is a tragic anti-hero and the ending really shows you what I mean.

The script is incredible. If Aaron Sorkin doesn't win Best Screenplay in the Oscars, I'll be dissapointed. The timing was nearly perfect throughout the movie. It was smart, witty, charming, and fresh. It was such a great idea and it worked out so well.

This is going to be a big Award winner, I can feel it. 4/4. It was a great movie. The acting was superb, the writing was flawless, and the direcion of the movie was executed perfectly. This isn't so much a movie about Facebook, as it is a movie about the development of a troubled guy and his rise to the top.  I loved this movie and would watch it again if I had the time.


WATCH THIS MOVIE!!!!!