Movie Review: THE SOCIAL NETWORK

(Back from my Vegas vacation!! Let the reviews commence...)

I remember the first day that I got a Facebook. It's like one of those life moments. I was in college when Facebook was invented, and I remember not totally understanding it at first. I remember the first person who wrote on my wall (Candice P!), and I remember wondering how long this craze would last. Well, hundreds of my 'face's uploaded later, Facebook is now my third most visited site (behind Google and Amazon), so when I heard they were going to make a movie about the origins of one of my favorite sites, I knew I would be there.

Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland) plays Mark Zuckerberg, the inventor (?) of the social network in question. The battle of who really created the site is at the forefront of the movie, and while I don't know how much of the film matches with reality, nobody really comes off looking great. And that is not a bad thing for the movie goer - the drama in this film felt real, tense, and while it's not a horror movie in most senses, the way friends turn on each other is devastating.

The acting and David Fincher's direction were great, but it was the script from Aaron Sorkin that really brought the story to life. Zuckerberg comes off as the most entertaining witty jerk, it's just hard not to laugh while at the same time feel so bad for the sorry rich person he might be. The book film is based on, The Accidental Billionaires, starts by saying that some parts of the book aren't true but it's probably what could have happened. I didn't feel like sitting around for a dozen hours reading about what might have happened - watching the story for two is a lot easier.

Overall I liked the movie a lot (no pun intended) - a whole lot actually. It's not exactly rewatchable, but it's nowhere near a waste of time. I feel sort of like I do after watching a Michael Moore documentary - I love it on one level, agree with much of what it's saying, but feel somehow like I was lied to a bit. But I guess that's why The Social Network is billed as a movie, not a documentary. So if you use the site, you will most likely find the film fascinating...and if you don't have an FB profile, why the heck not? I would give The Social Network an 8 out of 10.