The Social Network

In The Social Network, David Fincher tells the story of the founding of Facebook. And while it might not be totally accurate, it is easily one of the best films of the year.

The Social Network is one of the best movies I have seen all year.

In 2003 Mark Zuckerberg, as portrayed by Zombieland’s Jesse Eisenberg, was a narcissistic, arrogant, and lonely sophomore at Harvard, who was looking to be accepted by the school’s elite in order to have “a better life”. He also happened to be a genius. After a particularly jarring breakup, Zuckerberg pulls off an impressive feat of computer coding, and in the span of a few hours creates Facemash, a website that asked students to choose between two girls and pick the one they thought was better looking. The website lands Zuckerberg in trouble with the school, alienates him with the female student population, but also brings him to the attention of the Winklevoss twins, Cameron and Tyler (both played by Armie Hammer with additional shots using Josh Pence as a stand in), and their partner Divya Narendra (played by Max Minghella).

The trio hire Zuckerberg to help code their website HarvardConnection. The idea was to create a social network that thrived on the idea of exclusivity, and Zuckerberg soon agrees to help. Shortly after, he tells his friend Eduardo Saverin (played by Andrew Garfield) that he has had an idea for a social network of his own, and with Saverin’s money and a promise to make him CFO, Zuckerberg begins work on TheFacebook.

As TheFacebook take off, the movie begins to intertwine with events from the future, notably two separate lawsuits against Zuckerberg, one by the Winklevoss twins and Narendra, and another by Saverin. In the Winklevoss suit, the three claim that Zuckerberg stole their idea, while Saverin’s lawsuit is based on his eventual removal from Facebook.

TheFacebook continues to grow, and within less than a year the site has gained over 150,000 members and is available on several college campuses, including Stanford, where Sean Parker, the founder of Napster (played by Justin Timberlake), discovers the site. Parker arranges a meeting with Zuckerberg, which sets in motion a chain of events that sends Zuckerberg to California, and eventually leads to issues with Saverin.