Too long to read? One sentence summary: Pirates of Silicon Valley meets Facebook, worth seeing.
I frequently feel that in terms of generational impacts upon culture, my generation kind of got hosed. We certainly have a few important events, but aside from 9/11, we don't really have anything to compare to things from my parents' generation like moon landing, Woodstock, the Kennedy assassination, etc (not to exclude our friends outside of the US, but my knowledge of foreign cultural events is rather limited). Most the bands I like stop touring years before I was even born. There are a lot of good films from our time, but when I compiled a list of my top ten movies, only four came out after I was born, and I only actually saw one of them when it was theatrically released. One exception is the revolutionizing of social media. I don't know how much this will matter thirty years, but I remember the exact moment I heard about Facebook, about two weeks before I started college in August of 2005. I remember when there wasn't even a Wikipedia page about the site. I was among the first 5 million users. I wonder if someday I'll be sitting in the back of a burned-out VW minibus wearing a tie-dye bandana and peace sign necklace, telling the younger kids, "I was there, man." But enough nostalgic prattle, on to the review.
Despite the fact that I missed the first few minutes owing to my friend's inability to read the clocks on his wrist, cell phone, dashboard, or the two bank signs he passes on the way to my house, I managed to capture the essence of the intro. Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is the stereotypical, fast-talking, socially inept computer nerd who insensitively insults his cute, extraordinarily patient, and apparently fictitious girlfriend, who then calls him an asshole and breaks up with him. Normally I despise the computer geek archetype, in particular the rapid-fire speech, but in this case I didn't mind, as the dialogue was so smoothly delivered and witty. It also serves to notch in the idea that Zuckerberg is somehow on a different plane of thinking, but not in an oppressive, super genius way; more like you understand something, and then realize that Zuckerberg drew the same conclusion, just five seconds earlier.
After being summarily ejected from his girlfriend's heart and genitals, Zuckerberg takes his drunken revenge out on her by slandering her on his blog, then hacking into several of Harvard's (did I mention he went to Harvard?) "facebooks," localized semi-public directories, listing basic information and photos of the residents of each dorm. Eisenberg soliloquizes the hacking by spewing forth a stream-of-consciousness commentary, chock full of seemingly accurate geek speak which is sure to tickle the balls of computer nerds (like me), but is still engaging enough not to alienate those less technically inclined. He creates facemash.com which invites users to shamelessly objectify and compare various women, who's hotter, he crashes Harvard's network and becomes the campus anti-hero. During this time he is accompanied by Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who is Zuckerberg's reluctant accomplice and friend. Together, they begin to develop the rudimentary foundations of Facebook.
Shortly after the facemash incident, a trio of upperclassmen seek out Zuckerberg to create a social site exclusive to Harvard students. Two of them are the Winklevoss twins, members of the crew team, and the third is some other guy whose name I can't be bothered to remember (henceforth, "OG"). They are members of an elite club/fraternity and they want to bring that exclusivity to an online site so they can facilitate getting themselves laid. Zuckerberg accepts their offer and promptly does jack shit with it. Instead, he develops the primordial Facebook and launches it. Soon after, he meets Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake), the wired, hipster, douche co-founder of Napster. Facebook explodes and Zuckerberg is promptly sued by almost everyone he's ever known.
The movie was written by Aaron Sorkin, also known for writing the screenplay for A Few Good Men, and the similarities can be seen between them. The accused in both movies give the sincere impression they don't really understand what they've done wrong. The movie is told through flashbacks between two concurrent lawsuits (one suit with the Winklevoss twins and OG, the other with Saverin), and throughout the entire proceeding, Zuckerberg shows very little remorse save for a few instances with Saverin. He's not doing it to be a prick, he just doesn't feel like he did anything wrong. Even so, Zuckerberg still comes across much more likeable than his portrayal in the book "The Accidental Billionaires," which served as the basis of the screenplay.
The rest of the characters feel pretty stock otherwise. The Winklevoss twins do the elitist, "Harvard gentlemen" character, Saverin is the irritatingly cautious and worrisome friend, which is pulled off with remarkable stiffness by Garfield, whose performance bears a stunning resemblance to a Mattel See n' Say (The Actor says: "Mad"), and most of the other supporting cast come from an assortment of nerd typecasts. The sole exception to this is the character of Sean Parker. Despite hating Timberlake through much of my adolescence as part of the inferiority machismo complex teenage males had towards boy bands, he has since proven to be exceptionally talented in both comedy (various SNL appearances) and drama (Alpha Dog). He balances Parker's personality excellently, creating a character that's probably a lot of fun to go drinking with, but most of the time you just have an overwhelming urge to punch him in the mouth. You know, just like a pop star.
Buoyed by an excellent screenplay, and great performances by both Eisenberg and Timberlake, The Social Network is definitely worth seeing. I don't know how much of it factually accurate, particularly the characters' personalities throughout the events, but I feel like it can probably fall into the same category as The Pirates of Silicon Valley; dramatically entertaining with a dash of historical accuracy.
Other thoughts:
[ul]
[li]The plural of Winklevoss is Winklevi[/li]
[li]Silk scarves and batshit crazy girlfriends do not mix[/li]
[li]I feel sorry for any girl unfortunate enough to be named Erica Albright on Facebook[/li]
[/ul]
Feel free to read the review on my site, http://www.raddystuition.com/reviews.htm and support my shameless panhandling.
I frequently feel that in terms of generational impacts upon culture, my generation kind of got hosed. We certainly have a few important events, but aside from 9/11, we don't really have anything to compare to things from my parents' generation like moon landing, Woodstock, the Kennedy assassination, etc (not to exclude our friends outside of the US, but my knowledge of foreign cultural events is rather limited). Most the bands I like stop touring years before I was even born. There are a lot of good films from our time, but when I compiled a list of my top ten movies, only four came out after I was born, and I only actually saw one of them when it was theatrically released. One exception is the revolutionizing of social media. I don't know how much this will matter thirty years, but I remember the exact moment I heard about Facebook, about two weeks before I started college in August of 2005. I remember when there wasn't even a Wikipedia page about the site. I was among the first 5 million users. I wonder if someday I'll be sitting in the back of a burned-out VW minibus wearing a tie-dye bandana and peace sign necklace, telling the younger kids, "I was there, man." But enough nostalgic prattle, on to the review.
Despite the fact that I missed the first few minutes owing to my friend's inability to read the clocks on his wrist, cell phone, dashboard, or the two bank signs he passes on the way to my house, I managed to capture the essence of the intro. Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg) is the stereotypical, fast-talking, socially inept computer nerd who insensitively insults his cute, extraordinarily patient, and apparently fictitious girlfriend, who then calls him an asshole and breaks up with him. Normally I despise the computer geek archetype, in particular the rapid-fire speech, but in this case I didn't mind, as the dialogue was so smoothly delivered and witty. It also serves to notch in the idea that Zuckerberg is somehow on a different plane of thinking, but not in an oppressive, super genius way; more like you understand something, and then realize that Zuckerberg drew the same conclusion, just five seconds earlier.
After being summarily ejected from his girlfriend's heart and genitals, Zuckerberg takes his drunken revenge out on her by slandering her on his blog, then hacking into several of Harvard's (did I mention he went to Harvard?) "facebooks," localized semi-public directories, listing basic information and photos of the residents of each dorm. Eisenberg soliloquizes the hacking by spewing forth a stream-of-consciousness commentary, chock full of seemingly accurate geek speak which is sure to tickle the balls of computer nerds (like me), but is still engaging enough not to alienate those less technically inclined. He creates facemash.com which invites users to shamelessly objectify and compare various women, who's hotter, he crashes Harvard's network and becomes the campus anti-hero. During this time he is accompanied by Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) who is Zuckerberg's reluctant accomplice and friend. Together, they begin to develop the rudimentary foundations of Facebook.
Shortly after the facemash incident, a trio of upperclassmen seek out Zuckerberg to create a social site exclusive to Harvard students. Two of them are the Winklevoss twins, members of the crew team, and the third is some other guy whose name I can't be bothered to remember (henceforth, "OG"). They are members of an elite club/fraternity and they want to bring that exclusivity to an online site so they can facilitate getting themselves laid. Zuckerberg accepts their offer and promptly does jack shit with it. Instead, he develops the primordial Facebook and launches it. Soon after, he meets Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake), the wired, hipster, douche co-founder of Napster. Facebook explodes and Zuckerberg is promptly sued by almost everyone he's ever known.
The movie was written by Aaron Sorkin, also known for writing the screenplay for A Few Good Men, and the similarities can be seen between them. The accused in both movies give the sincere impression they don't really understand what they've done wrong. The movie is told through flashbacks between two concurrent lawsuits (one suit with the Winklevoss twins and OG, the other with Saverin), and throughout the entire proceeding, Zuckerberg shows very little remorse save for a few instances with Saverin. He's not doing it to be a prick, he just doesn't feel like he did anything wrong. Even so, Zuckerberg still comes across much more likeable than his portrayal in the book "The Accidental Billionaires," which served as the basis of the screenplay.
The rest of the characters feel pretty stock otherwise. The Winklevoss twins do the elitist, "Harvard gentlemen" character, Saverin is the irritatingly cautious and worrisome friend, which is pulled off with remarkable stiffness by Garfield, whose performance bears a stunning resemblance to a Mattel See n' Say (The Actor says: "Mad"), and most of the other supporting cast come from an assortment of nerd typecasts. The sole exception to this is the character of Sean Parker. Despite hating Timberlake through much of my adolescence as part of the inferiority machismo complex teenage males had towards boy bands, he has since proven to be exceptionally talented in both comedy (various SNL appearances) and drama (Alpha Dog). He balances Parker's personality excellently, creating a character that's probably a lot of fun to go drinking with, but most of the time you just have an overwhelming urge to punch him in the mouth. You know, just like a pop star.
Buoyed by an excellent screenplay, and great performances by both Eisenberg and Timberlake, The Social Network is definitely worth seeing. I don't know how much of it factually accurate, particularly the characters' personalities throughout the events, but I feel like it can probably fall into the same category as The Pirates of Silicon Valley; dramatically entertaining with a dash of historical accuracy.
Other thoughts:
[ul]
[li]The plural of Winklevoss is Winklevi[/li]
[li]Silk scarves and batshit crazy girlfriends do not mix[/li]
[li]I feel sorry for any girl unfortunate enough to be named Erica Albright on Facebook[/li]
[/ul]
Feel free to read the review on my site, http://www.raddystuition.com/reviews.htm and support my shameless panhandling.