Run, Don't Walk

The Social Network

“You’re not an asshole, Mark, you’re just trying so hard to be.”

The script for this movie about everyone’s favorite social networking site zips, crackles and tells one version of what may have happened at the dawn of Facebook.  If anything it left me wanting to read more perspectives to get a bigger picture of what comes closer to the truth.  The danger of movies about computers is that you have someone sitting at a keyboard narrating everything they’re doing to a co-star and the audience, but this is avoided here. Instead, we get a sexy coding party-slash-drinking game with arcane rules and a rock show audience. This isn’t your older brother’s nerdy Computer Science major college roommate’s scene. When its time to hand out the Oscar, Best Adapted Screenplay is sure to go to a deserving Aaron Sorkin.

This is a smart movie and is beautifully helmed by David Fincher. I had my reservations about this because his films are usually so kinetic and action-y but because the script has all the action and movement you’d want, his one-of-a-kind Fincher gloss totally adds another layer of enjoyment. I have to say though, that Hollywood still thinks we’re dazzled to the point of near confusion by non-linear narratives but 20-plus years into the trend the audience gets it and stays on board. Its not as smart as it used to be, but in this film, it works and is done really well. Recent history documented this way feels watery and impossible to pin down but the questions the film may raise for the viewer are easily researched, read about, or watched on YouTube.

Justin Timberlake brings the right amount of sexy, nerd, swagger and asshole to his role as real-life Napster dude Sean Parker but I think Oscar talk I’ve heard and read is a little generous. His role is on the page and any competent actor could’ve walked in and nailed it. I think we should make him work a little harder on the road to his EGOT.

I really liked Rashida Jones in a tiny role that mostly involved her saying the quote above and being compassionate with mostly looks and few lines. Again, not Oscar caliber but another notch in what could be a long, interesting career.

Jesse Eisenberg proves, once again, that he’s one to watch. He delivers his lines as fast as we can think in an Asperger’s deadpan but still manages to let us inside what Mark Zuckerberg may possibly be like. It doesn’t matter for the sake of the film if he’s not because here we get a boy/man (sorry for using that phrase) who basically started what may be the social infrastructure for the 21st century (I won’t even get into some of the more nefarious things Facebook could end up being) so he could get laid. Using this as a bookend for the film may belittle Zuckerberg’s achievement or maybe its true. Leaving him friendless in the end constantly refreshing a Facebook page was a great way to end the movie but I wonder if this isn’t a little simple for someone as complex as Zuckerberg was made to be in the movie.