Everyone’s talking about the new movie “The Social Network.” That’s not surprising. Over 500 million people have a Facebook page, so why wouldn’t someone want to see a movie about how the popular social networking website came to be?
With movies like this based on true events, there isn’t a lot of room for judgment. It is what it is: a movie about Facebook. Not saying that it’s bad or that it’s great. It’s good, just not spectacular.
The premise is to tell the story about Facebook’s founders and the trials that came with having a bona fide idea that will earn them millions. The movie pulls that off wonderfully.
Notice that the title of the movie is “The Social Network.” That’s kind of cocky because there are plenty of other social websites out there.
Ahem, MySpace-but that website fell off. Besides, if some people remember, MySpace had a movie. It wasn’t official, but it was talked about.
By having this title of the movie, Facebook has declared itself social network king.
One complaint that viewers may have is how the movie portrays Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Zuckerberg, classified as the world’s youngest billionaire, is also depicted as the world’s biggest wannabe jerk-at least that’s a line in the movie minus that profanity that I replaced with jerk.
Although the audience may not agree with Zuckerburg’s character, moviegoers must remember that while this is a true story, things are often dramatized in movies to sell a ticket.
If this were a documentary where the actual creators were shown on camera giving their testimonials on what went down, things might have turned out differently.
However, it is refreshing to see Jesse Eisenberg play that nonchalant jerk rather than the desperate love stricken teen in movies like “Adventureland.”
This is a great movie to see if students are interested in knowing the background of Facebook’s origins without scouring Wikipedia for changeable information.
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin interweaves interesting facts like Facebook’s initial title The Facebook, and Zuckerburg’s creation of a mischievous Internet blog website called Facemash.
The audience learns this and more about the elusive Facebook founder.
“The Social Network” is smart and fast-paced. It’s not recommended for those who don’t know what Facebook is, but who doesn’t know what Facebook is? Perhaps grandparents? No, because my mom has one.