The Social Network

    Many of us know of Facebook either from owning an account or from hearing from our friends or news about the site.  However, not many of us really know how Facebook got started, which is exactly what the 2010 film The Social Network revolves around.  The film was actually based on the novel The Accidental Billionaires, but the novel was still based on the events of how Facebook began.  The film stars well known singer Justin Timberlake, and the lesser stars but main characters, Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield.  The film ultimately intends to act as a dramatic documentary, though the events are not actually true to life.  Comedy is present in the film, but is quite natural and unforced.  The film takes place in two places:  Cambridge, Massachusetts and Palo Alto, California.

    The film introduces us to two Harvard students, Mark Zuckerberg and Erica Albright, who are having an argument in a bar.  The argument ends with Erica breaking up with Mark, and Mark running to his dorm room to blog and write code for a website called FaceMash where users of the website choose between two Harvard female students based on their looks.  From this, we gather that Mark is a coding genius and quite the hacker because of his methods of gathering all of the students’ pictures.  During this scene, we also learn of Mark’s roommate and good friend, Eduardo Saverin.  Upon hearing about Mark’s mad coding skills, the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra ask Mark to write code for an exclusive Harvard website.  Mark agrees, but takes their idea and expands on it to create Facebook.  The rest of the movie is about how Mark increases Facebook’s success, his friendship with Eduardo, and the two lawsuits he faces. 

    The soundtrack for The Social Network is superb with the exception of two songs.  The soundtrack works to hook the viewer into the moment with the characters.  For example, there is a scene where Mark and Eduardo first meet Sean Parker in a sushi bar, and the scene is intercut with Eduardo at the deposition talking about the moment.  The music during this scene draws the audience into the actions of the characters at the sushi bar even though there is no dialogue.  You feel singled out from the audience and invited to join the moment with the characters.  The two songs that did not quite work with the film were “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and “Baby, You’re a Rich Man.”  The first of the two songs plays during the Winklevoss’ boat race.  The song seems too cartoony for this moment.  The second of the two songs, “Baby, You’re a Rich Man” by the Beatles, which plays at the start of the end credits, just does not match the music of the rest of the movie, so it feels out of place.

    Not only is the soundtrack for the movie superb but so is the acting.  It is sometimes hard to picture Justin Timberlake as an actor after growing up and seeing him building his career as a singer, but he does not disappoint us in his role as Sean Parker.  He delivers his lines smoothly and comfortably as if he really is the character rather than acting as him.  A good example of this is when we first meet his character sluggishly snoozing in some girl’s bed but then has a sudden interest in the website the girl is using.  Timberlake never overemphasizes the lazy personality of his character but uses it to his advantage in playing the character.  Brenda Song also does a great job as acting as Eduardo’s girlfriend, Christy Lee.  When we first meet her character, she is this nice girl without any flaws; however, when we find out that her personality is radically different, Song pulls this switch in character with ease.  Song ensures that us in her acting skills that Christy Lee is no longer the girl we thought she was.

    All in all, The Social Network is a really good movie and worth viewing.  The music keeps you attached to what you are watching, and the acting does not distract from the story or the viewing experience.