The guy seems to care genuinely about his ex-friend and is bitterly unhappy about his treatment by Mark. His oral jousting with the deposing attorneys is brilliantly rendered in dialogue Sorkin presumably lifted from transcripts.Ībout the only character that comes off well is Garfield’s Eduardo.
He cannot speak civilly to anyone yet has the verbal skills to hone in on sore points with his acquaintances. He finds people, at best, helpful to his creations or, at worst, annoying. He dresses like he just rolled out of bed and doesn’t relate to people half as well as he does to computers, algorithms and user databases. Ask yourself: How many truly original characters show up in American movies? “Mark Zuckerberg” is thoroughly unlikable but he is an original. You’ll get no argument here but that’s beside the point. There have been complaints from early screenings that no one is very likable in this movie. His portrait of campus life among America’s elite is pitch-perfect, every bit as much as the drug-and-party excesses of Silicon Valley and the war rooms of corporate attorneys. Even in a one-scene performance, famed Harvard president Larry Summers (Douglas Urbanski) startles the viewer with his abrupt impatience and sterling wit as he dismisses the twins’ heavy-handed attempt to enlist the school in their cause.įincher also places events in milieus that ring true. Under Fincher’s astute direction the characters fairly pop out at you. The story thus becomes a tale of power, fame, betrayal, revenge and responsibility. You understand no one’s testimony is reliable but Sorkin tries to sort out the possible scenario that lands everyone in this legal soup. Because a few years later, Facebook is a billion-dollar miracle and lawsuits are flying everywhere: The twins and their Indian-American partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella, who doesn’t look or act Indian), and Eduardo, who has been frozen out of Facebook thanks to the Svengali-like efforts of Napster creator Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), are all suing Mark.Īs everyone recollects his version of events, the film flashes back to these developments. Then the rest of the movie, in an inspired move by Sorkin, takes place at legal depositions. They approach the anarchist-hacker, who is intrigued by their idea but prefers to go to his best friend and fellow Jew, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), to finance a social network that contains elements of the Winklevosses’ idea but transforms it into what we now know as Facebook. These are wealthy and privileged scholar-athletes trying to develop an inner-campus website to create a place for students to meet, greet and perhaps score dates. The contest goes viral, crashes Harvard’s computer system, earns Mark a reprimand from authorities but attracts the attention of Harvard twins Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (Armie Hammer and Josh Pence with the help of special effects). Okay, it’s not Facebook it’s Facemash, a stupid idea that only a genius computer hacker/scientist would dream up in which he hacks into Harvard’s computer system, downloads all photos from the “facebooks” of the university’s houses and asks students to vote on which girls are the hottest. Pissed off, Mark jogs home to get drunk, hit his computer and, to take his mind off Erica, accidentally invents Facebook. He is virtually blind to anyone else’s perspective.
So the flaw is most ironic - the guy who will revolutionize the way people communicate can’t communicate himself.
Indeed, she can’t even tell what the topic is.Īfter one insult too many, it’s easier for Erica to break up with Mark. He’s talking a mile a minute with every syllable screaming egocentricity and dripping with sarcasm and defensive insecurity. The very first scene? Harvard undergrad Mark and his girlfriend, Erica (Rooney Mara), are trying to have a dinner date at a noisy Cambridge brew pub. The hook is the film’s of-the-moment topic but the payoff is its hero. Certainly, Sorkin, the film’s director, David Fincher, and its heavyweight producers have crafted a smart, insightful film that satisfies both camps. “Social” has the potential to be that rarity - a film that gains critical laurels and award mentions yet also does killer boxoffice.
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