The Social Network- a movie review
Director: David Fincher
Rated: Pg-13

How many nights have you spent thinking of a witty phrase to type in as your Facebook status, or uploading videos of your friends doing the “Soulja Boy dance”? Also known as “Facebook, the movie”, The Social Network is all about the creator of the addictive website and how it came to be. Released on October first 2010, the movie is made of sharp comebacks, college humor, and programming speak that most of the viewers of the film are not meant to understand, only wonder about in awe.

The movie starts in a generic bar, with a regular-looking couple having a discussion. In the first five minutes of the movie, our hero Mark Zuckerberg (played by Jesse Eisenberg, who also played the main character Columbus in Zombieland) is dumped by his girlfriend. He goes to his dorm in Harvard and… blogs. Mark ends up hacking several sites to “steal” pictures of people and creates a site where people can decide which of the two females on two photos is more aesthetically pleasing- in other words, “click on the hotter chick”.

As the story unfolds, we see the extent of Mark’s prowess in programming even as he sips his third as well as his undying attitude of considering himself as more intelligent that most people (and more than willing to point it out). In The Social Network, Zuckerberg is the genius of our decade, not the boy-next-door. He stabs some people in the back; he gives other people the chance to become faithful sidekicks in his internet pioneering. He is the creator of Facebook, nothing more or less than a guy with a sharp tongue, a high word per minute count, and a total dedication to what he enjoys. A movie about the youngest billionaire in the world, the creator of your favorite past-time, and the guy who broke the rules and came out dry.

Drawbacks to this picture? The story has been “spiced up”; the genius of the main character greatly hyperbolized; there are several instances where if going freeze-frame from second to second you could play “find five differences” and discover six. These things, though, are inseparable elements of a movie that you want to watch. I have a feeling that The Social Network is one of many movies dedicated to the phenomenon that is the internet.

Written by Malika B.

PS: I hate being affected by movies like that, so I’ll stick in the dialogue in a scene to prove my point. Did I mention that Sean Parker is here too? You may disagree but I’ll assert that he’s the father of internet piracy. Sean is back! Sean is back! All hail Sean! (Men in Black 2 reference. You should really watch TV more often.)


Sean Parker: I'm an entrepreneur.
Amy: You're unemployed?
Sean Parker: I wouldn't say that.
Amy: What would you say?
Sean Parker: That I'm an entrepreneur.
Amy: Well what was your latest preneur?
Sean Parker: I founded an internet company where people could download and share music for free.
Amy: You mean like Napster?
Sean Parker: Exactly like Napster.
Amy: What do you mean?
Sean Parker: I founded Napster.
Amy: Sean Parker founded Napster.
Sean Parker: Nice to meet you.