“The Social Network” wastes no time in getting started. The film opens in the fall of 2003 with future Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), a 19 year-old Harvard student, simmering with resentment over the insecurity he feels in his relationship with the pretty young co-ed sitting directly across from him in a crowded campus bar. Using a brilliant mind and monotone voice perpetually set on superior/ironic, he methodically attempts to cut her to pieces; his controlled hostility bubbling through in the form of insults wrapped in innuendo just innocent-sounding enough to allow Zuckerberg to claim any rise on her part is an overreaction – which is also part of his cruel game. The girl about to become The One Who Got Away might attend a lesser college, but she’s no dummy and breaks up with him on the spot. Angry, humiliated, but always the narcissist, Zuckerberg marches back to his dorm, pops open a few beers, and does what bitter losers do in our Internet age: humiliates her in front of the world online.
Emboldened by alcohol and a vengeance fueled by his own palpable sense of inadequacy, Zuckerberg then goes on to use his impressive computer hacking skills, and those of his more level-headed best and only friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield), to humiliate most every girl on campus through the creation of a website that ranks their attractiveness using sorority photographs. A small Harvard scandal erupts but this only ends up being the first sordid step towards what will eventually become the multi-billion dollar sensation we know today as Facebook.
Directed with skill and precision by David Fincher and impressively scripted by “West Wing” creator Aaron Sorkin, “The Social Network” is tightly told, well paced, and quite brilliantly structured with a story that unfolds through the inter-cutting of two different lawsuit depositions and flashbacks. The acting is impeccable, especially Eisenberg’s performance as the world’s youngest up and coming billionaire and Justin Timberlake as Napster founder Sean Parker, a craven party-boy genius whose unerring sense of the big picture is frequently undone by a dark nihilistic streak. His Svengali-like influence on Zuckerberg, who like himself is driven beyond reason to settle old scores, real or imagined, will prove the old adage about gaining the world at the cost of your soul.
Based on Ben Mezrich‘s The Accidental Billionaires, there’s no doubt that this look at how the creation of a cultural phenomenon left behind a wake of betrayals, broken relationships and billion-dollar lawsuits is an absolutely fascinating one – and one told by skilled filmmakers at the height of their respective powers. Every frame demands and holds your attention from beginning to end, and that’s about as strong of a compliment as there is. The problem, however, is that all you are is fascinated, and what you are not is in any way emotionally invested. Whether or not you walk in knowing the ultimate outcome of the various relationships and lawsuits, there’s not a single character in the bunch sympathetic enough to help you summon a damn.
If forced to pull for someone, I guess I would choose Zuckerberg. Yeah, he’s an irony-smeared superior prick – a mini David Letterman — but at least he was making things happen; pushing that boulder uphill and rolling it over anyone who got in his way or slowed things down to wring their hands. On the other hand, his best friend and CFO Eduardo might have been a nicer person, but it’s hard to pull for a whiny weak sister with less vision that Ray Charles. Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss (both played by actor Armie Hammer and some digital help), the identical twins who claimed Facebook was their idea and sued Zuckerberg for intellectual theft, are a little too square-jawed pretty and willing to let others do their work for my taste. And as far as Sean Parker goes, whether it’s the music business or the relationships around him, he’s not a creator, he’s a destroyer.
If anything, “The Social Network” feels like a two act film. You keep hoping and waiting for that third act where someone anyone will find some sort of personal redemption through something other than a victory in court or a deadpan quip. But it’s painfully obvious that this is a production meant to be an awards magnet, a prestige film, and for whatever reason, these days “important” is always translated into something emotionally distant, spiritually bankrupt, and carried by a smarter-than-thou anti-hero destined to be left hanging in some ironic limbo of his own making.
“The Social Network,” is, well, clever. Yes, that’s the word: clever. And good for it. Hats off, respect, and all due applause. From the photography to Trent Reznor’s driving, moody score, I’m impressed because there’s a whole lot to be impressed by.
But I’m also indifferent.
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