Director: David Fincher
Writers: Aaron Sorkin (screenplay), Ben Mezrich (book)
Starring: Jesse Eisenberg (30 Minutes or Less), Andrew
Garfield (Spiderman), Justin Timberlake (Friends With Benefits), Rooney Mara
(The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo)
Length: 120 min
In theatres: October 1, 2010
It’s hard to go into a “college movie” and not expect the
main focus to be drinking and having fun.
As a college student, I can tell you that the experience is much more
than that. I admit I was skeptical before
first watching The Social Network,
but I can honestly say that I was pleasantly surprised.
This is the story of Harvard student, Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse
Eisenberg), and how he created the social networking site known as
Facebook. The plot follows two legal
battles that he faces, one with his best friend, Edwardo, the company’s chief
financial officer (Andrew Garfield), and the other against the Winklevoss twins
who claim that Zuckerberg stole the idea from them. There are a few scenes with partying,
including one where Edwardo goes to an exclusive party of the final club,
Phoenix, and others after they move the company to California for the
summer. I think that the audience for
this movie is mainly people who use Facebook, so that would be mostly teenagers
and young adults.
The movie dives back and forth in time, starting with the
creation of Facebook and darting back to the court cases every few scenes. As the story progresses, the court cases
begin to make more sense and you begin to wonder who’s side you’re really on.
I would rate this as a pretty good representation of
college. A great college movie typically
includes epic parties, drama with friends, and some schoolwork here and there. It’s Harvard, so clearly there are a lot of
smart people around, and there are a few scenes with classes and studying
involved. There are also a lot of
partying scenes, which shows the crazy side to college life. The parties depicted in the movie were very
extreme; the one shown while the company was in California includes drug use
and a shut down by the police. Social
media is also a HUGE part of a college student’s daily life, and since this
movie is about the founding of one of the most popular social websites, it does
a good job representing that aspect too. It was really interesting how the
movie compared life before and after Facebook, and being able to relate to the
addiction to social media.
The Social Network
has everything: drama, conflict, and even some comedic relief here and there with
some quality one liners. Although I did
not expect much out of this movie, I was captivated from the first seen. For Facebook users, or anyone living in the
21st century, this is definitely a must-see.
I also did "The Social Network" and I agree that it was a very good film. I like how you wrote about the movie's balance between the intellectual side of college and the social side of college. I also liked how you said anyone living in the 21st century should see the movie. I agree that the movie does a good job at showing the last decade and the developments that led to the creation of Facebook.
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