The Social Network Retrospective
The Social Network is a dramatized version of how Facebook got its start. The movie covers the inception of the idea, to the point where Facebook is a massive hit and former partners of Mark Zuckerberg — the Winklevoss brothers and Eduardo Saverin — are trying to get a piece of the now multi-billion dollar company.
It’s been roughly ten years since I watched The Social Network. The perception of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg has changed a lot since then. Mostly for the worse. I’m curious if that changes how I see the movie. Since it’s on Netflix and I can’t leave my home, I figured it would be a good time to re-watch and see how it holds up.
By God does it hold up.
I remembered right away how much of a jack-ass Mark Zuckerberg is made out to be. Zuckerberg’s character reminds me of most portrayals of Sherlock Holmes, minus the humor. The first scene shows Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, at a bar with his girlfriend, who by every conceivable measure is out of his league. They talk about China and exclusive clubs, during which he insults her a few times, leading her to break up with him. What really stood out was the dialogue, it’s quick and intelligent, something we expect from director David Fincher. It isn’t just this scene though, the whole movie is like that.
If you took a pole I’m guessing most people would say Mark Zuckerberg is a bad guy. This is because of Facebook having multiple security issues along with at the least being complacent in foreign countries using the site to interfere in elections. But from what we’ve seen from Zuckerberg’s testimonies, he’s nothing like the character in the movie.
The real word Mark is more nervous and way less confrontational. Eisenberg's portrayal shows him to have insecurities deep down, but he copes with it by reminding everyone around him he’s the smartest guy in the room. It comes off as confidence, something the real Mark hasn’t really shown us. I’m honestly not sure which Mark I prefer.
After the bar scene we see a transition where Zuckerberg is going back to his dorm, and this is where the movie came back to me. The score gets your attention with just a few notes and sets the mood for the whole movie. Trent Reznor (founder of Nine Inch Nails) and Atticus Ross provided the music. The Social Network won the Oscar for best original score and I wish they had Oscars for the decade because it would win that too.
The movie is a series of flashbacks that are being brought up at depositions. There are plenty of transitions going back and forth which should take you out of the movie. But Fincher cut them so close and with enough accuracy that the scenes mesh together flawlessly.
The performances are outstanding. Jesse Eisenberg received an Oscar nod for Best Actor. Justin Timberlake's nailed his role as the slimy Napster creator Sean Parker (knowing that the Timberlake bought Myspace after this movie came out is hilarious). I was particularly pleased with Army Hamor’s portrayal of both Winklevoss twins. After the movie, I couldn’t stop wondering why he wasn’t a movie star. Then I looked up his movie history and saw that he was the guy from The Lone Ranger and it kind of made sense. Hamor has the two best quotes of the movie.
“I’m 6'5'’ 220 and there’s two of me”
“Like my brother and I are dressed in skeleton costumes chasing the karate kid around a high-school gym” when he's trying to explain why they can’t sue Mark Zuckerberg.
The second quote is particularly good if you’ve seen the YouTube Karate Kid series. Sure the rich, popular, blonde twins will look bad if they appear to be bullying Zuckerberg; but if you’ve seen the new show you know that Johnny Lawrence may not have been the bad guy at all, and neither are the Winklevoss twins.
Rashida Jones stood out but I’m not sure it was in a good way, I like her in most things but she seemed out of place. It’s more of a miscasting than her not doing a good job. Her most notable part is saying the last line in the movie…
“You are not an asshole Mark….you are just trying so hard to be.”
That line baffled me since the entire movie is Mark being an asshole. Sure, he has a few glimmers where he shows he might care about people, but he still screws them over. It felt forced — to make you think that maybe he is more complicated than you think.
The Social Network was nominated for Best Picture along with eight other movies. It lost to The Kings Speech, a movie I enjoyed but is nowhere near as satisfying as The Social Network. It seems like a classic case of Hollywood not being able to resist historical dramas.
I advise anyone who hasn’t seen the movie in a while to watch it again. Especially since Aaron Sorkin is considering a sequel.
