Review: The Social Network

"Insert Facebook pun here."

Before I saw 'The Social Network' I hadn't given a lot of thought into how websites like MySpace, Live Journal, and Facebook came about. Now I wonder if anyone else's story was as interesting as Mark Zuckerberg's

Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) gets dumped by his girlfriend for basically being an asshole. He copes with this by simultaneously dishing out insults on his blog and creating a site called Facemash, where users can rate the appearances of their fellow classmates. He crashes Harvord's system and gets noticed. After an interesting proposal from the Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) aka Winklevii to help them run a social networking site strictly for Harvard students. He enlists the help of his wealthy best friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) to start a social networking experience called The Facebook. We watch these students create the phenom that is now known simply as "Facebook", and subsequently, Zuckerberg screwing over his best friend.

The best part of this movie was the rapid-fire dialogue for sure. It was very quick witted. Eisenberg gave an excellent performance as Facebook's founder. He literally made me hate him during the entire movie. Sometimes it's hard when a movie centers around an antagonist. The story (and the way it was told) are so interesting that you just can't believe someone would sell out their friend so fast. That also helped us sympathize for Andrew Garfield's character, who in my opinion gave the best performance of the film. Justin Timberlake makes an appearance as Napster founder Sean Parker. They look nothing alike by the way, but he also gave a surprisingly great performance. As much as I wish he'd go back to singing, I can't fault him for his acting. He's good. Besides a few supporting players that felt extremely out of place, (looking at you, Brenda Song) the only issued I had with the film was the score. Trent Reznor's music seemed a tad harsh for a film of this tone. Just when I thought parts were fitting, I was welcomed with a loud, out of place symbol. I was surprised by this, I thought I'd love it.

Recommended: Yes

Grade: A-

Memorable Quote: "I can't stare at the loop of Niagara Falls, which by the way has nothing to do with the Caribbean any longer." - Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg)