The Social Network has become an early Oscar favorite and many are hailing it as one of the best films we’ve seen. Period. So, what’s the big deal?
Social Network: Amongst greatness, the best & brightest flourish
Could the above be a slogan for an Ivy League enclave? Absolutely, but it’s also what makes The Social Network, which begins in the hallowed halls of Harvard, one of the best films of this year, if not the decade.
Consider The Social Network’s pedigree: It’s an embarrassment of riches.
The Social Network is directed by David Fincher, one of the most gifted auteurs working today, whose previous movies such as Benjamin Button, Seven and Fight Club became instant cult classics. You can expect his usual dark visual style, but — thanks to the material — there is a stylistic departure in content as school dorm rooms and Silicon Valley parties replace the grit Fincher usually gravitates towards.
The script, based on Ben Mezrich’s 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal, was written by Aaron Sorkin, who is not only responsible for birthing The West Wing but also writing one of the most quoted lines in American cinema: “You can’t handle the truth!” from A Few Good Men.
No one in Hollywood has a greater love affair with dialogue than Sorkin. Some might call it verbose — we call it music to our ears.
Starring indie darling, the delightfully captivating Jesse Eisenberg, too-talented-for-his-own-good, can-do-no-wrong Justin Timberlake and newly-minted megastar Andrew Garfield (aka: the new Spiderman), The Social Network is best summed up by the one sheet featuring Eisenberg in all his doe-eyed glory under the words, “You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.”
Eisenberg stars as Mark Zuckerberg, a Harvard undergrad who recruited some of his classmates to develop a little social networking website you might have heard of called Facebook. If you haven’t already read about the lawsuits, scandals and in-fighting the success of the site inspired, the film delves deep into all the gory details of everyone’s favorite time-suck.
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