The Social Network

The Social Network
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer
Director: David Fincher
Rating: 5 (out of 5)

Summary: Mark Zuckerberg, student of Harvard University and computer genius, creates the worldwide phenomenon Facebook from the comfort of his dorm room at Harvard University. As the site grows in popularity Mark finds himself in two separate lawsuits. It seems even with 500 million virtual friends you can still have enemies...

Laggards may scoff at this film about Facebook, the current cultural phenomenon at the peak of its networking power, but the tale of it's genesis from the dorm rooms of Harvard to the bedrooms of every man, woman and child in the western world is as old as the carrier pigeon. So old that screenwriter Aaron Sorkin has been at pains to point out that it's themes of betrayal, jealousy and friendship could have been written by Shakespeare or Chayefsky. This may sound like Sorkin starting to believe his own golden award enriched hype but there's an element of truth in his deserved self-aggrandising.

Director David Fincher, sometimes prone to brilliant and artistic flights of fancy in films such as Fight Club, plays a steady hand here by letting Sorkin's quick fire script roll off the tongues of the leads and push the narrative with every sardonic quip and computer jargon soliloquy. It really is a testament to the mutually beneficial partnership between director and screenwriter that when The Social Network moves it's attention from computer screen to litigation room via three separate testimonies and perspectives like a Ritalin starved 14 year old, it is still able to hold your attention throughout. Of course there are the odd Fincher touches and themes, the exclusive frat party which is shot like one of Tyler Durden's wet dreams and his constant penchant for dark, autumnal, desk lamp lighting for example, but really this is an Aaron Sorkin film with the auteur Fincher providing a beautifully lit blank screen for typing.

Facebook itself plays a relative backseat in proceedings, Sorkin all too aware that placing the website front and centre would be as interesting as accepting Farmville invites every two minutes. Instead the website's creator Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is the focus of attention. His inability to be included in the hierarchy of the American higher education system, be that via the exclusive rowing clubs or romantically with female classmates, the catalyst for the ironic creation of this all inclusive behemoth.

Eisenberg's portrayal of Zuckerberg as a computer genius outsider with borderline Asbergers is engagingly restrained , neurotic and amusing in equal measure. Each million he makes and each friend request he accepts taking him further away from any semblance of real life and real friends. There are also stand out performances from Andrew Garfield as the frustrated friend, exascerbated admirer and co-worker Eduardo Saverin and Justin Timberlake as Napster creator Sean Parker. Timberlake especially enjoying the opportunity to stand on the shoulders of Zuckerberg's genius with Iago like arsehole zeal and cowardice.

The Social Network is an almost perfect film that packages the early 21^st century version of the American Dream in a simple and engaging morality tale. Zuckerberg's rise from dorm room Bill Gates to owner of a $25 billion company playing like an out of control monster movie. It's Alive!