Chad’s Grade: A-
What happens when you combine one of the most stylish directors with one of Hollywood’s most distinct scriptwriters? David Fincher is one of Hollywood’s most commercial directors, known for his darkly operatic visuals. He started out producing groundbreaking music videos of the late MTV era, working with such varied artists as George Michael (Freedom 90), Madonna (Express Yourself), and Paula Abdul (Cold Hearted). Fincher’s film directing debut hit a snag with the flawed yet underrated Alien 3. But he followed that rough start with a string of hits like Seven, Fight Club, Zodiac, and more recently, Gone Girl and Mank.
It was surprising that Fincher signed to direct The Social Network in 2010, teaming him with acclaimed screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. The famous wordsmith created the Emmy-winning TV drama The West Wing, along with the features A Few Good Men and The American President. He’s known for his aggressive, rapid-fire dialogue and controversial storytelling with a liberal-leaning bent. But this odd pairing proved to be a perfect match as they dramatize, very loosely, the origins of Facebook. A website that transformed the fledgling social networking landscape started by Myspace and Napster into a multi-billion-dollar industry.
Based on the book The Accidental Billionaires by Ben Mezrich, The Social Network focuses on Harvard students Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin creating what was then known in 2004 as “The Facebook” and shepherding it into the global powerhouse it is today. And the film opens in a dramatic fashion, where Zuckerberg is dumped by his girlfriend Erica at a local hangout and then marches home in a simmering rage. Once back in his dorm room, he drunkenly insults Erica on his blog and, with the help of Saverin and his roommates, hacks into several Harvard “Facebook” sites. There they pull pictures to create “face mash,” a tacky comparison site of which girls are hotter. In a few hours, the site goes viral and crashes the Harvard computer servers, enraging the college’s female population in the process.
Immediately Fincher sets up the visual language of the film, overlaying his hyper-editing style over Sorkin’s dialogue-heavy script. The story is framed by the numerous court cases Zuckerberg was embroiled in after Facebook’s massive success, where he was sued by Saverin, Cameron & Tyler Winklevoss, and Divya Narendra. The film then flashes back, sometimes mid-dialogue, to Zuckerberg & Saverin coding the face mash site. This is where Fincher’s inventive music video experience really shines. Especially when he intercuts scenes of one of Harvard’s all-male Final Clubs, The Phoenix, throwing a drunken sorority party where they bus in dozens of attractive young women eager to hook up with desirable Harvard boys. Both Phoenix and Zuckerberg were doing essentially the same thing, female misogyny. But Zuckerberg made it virtual, powered by an unregulated internet.
And Zuckerberg was obsessed with the college’s notorious Final Clubs and resentful that he was never invited to join one. The film presents this boiling resentment as one of the driving forces behind Facebook’s genesis when he’s approached by the Winklevoss twins to help create their Harvard-exclusive dating site called “The Harvard Connection.” Zuckerberg is unimpressed but agrees to help code the project until he gets a better idea with Saverin. Why not create an internet site that acts like a Final Club, putting the entire college experience of your friends, relationship status, and personal activity all in one place, where the user can choose who to (or not to) join their social profile. Saverin loves the idea and agrees to fund the project, acting as the site’s official CFO.
The filmmakers were smart to cast Jesse Eisenberg and Andrew Garfield as Zuckerberg and Saverin. The pairing of these two gifted actors anchors the story’s central relationship. Eisenberg exudes unfiltered giddy energy as he brainstorms and fine-tunes his future internet behemoth. And Garfield nicely plays the more grounded Saverin, worrying about the mundane operations, like how to monetize the site. Watching the disintegration of this close friendship is heartbreaking, as they are unprepared for Facebook’s surging success.
As “the facebook” quickly expands to other college campuses, they attract the attention of Napster creator Sean Parker. This is where the film brilliantly plays the ironic casting card, with pop superstar Justin Timberlake playing the bad-boy mastermind who transformed the music industry. Timberlake burns star charisma as he charms Zuckerberg, playing the ear-whispering devil versus the more safe and noble Saverin. Parker convinces Zuckerberg to move the company to Silicon Valley, reject Saverin’s advertising plans, and secure funding from venture capitalists like Peter Thiel. He also suggests they drop “the” to just Facebook (it’s cleaner). And Timberlake gets the film’s most famous line: “You know what’s cool? A billion dollars.”
Director Fincher knows when to dial down some of his stylistic flourishes, keeping Sorkin’s brilliant script front and center. We get flashes of the writer’s brand of snap-and-crackle dialogue, like when Zuckerberg sneers to the Winklevoss twins, “If you guys were the inventors of Facebook, you’d have invented Facebook” during a court hearing. The scenes of Zuckerberg facing off against the Winklevoss’ (a wonderfully smarmy Armie Hammer playing both brothers) have the feel of the rich goofy nerd getting annoyed by the handsome jocks. It’s contrasted by the court time with Saverin, as a bittersweet Garfield mourns their lost friendship, culminating in the movie’s most dramatic scene. Saverin leans into his former best friend, smashes his laptop, and warns him to lawyer up after being informed that his shares of the company he co-founded have been worthlessly diluted.
The film is an entertaining chronicle of these young, socially awkward outsiders who found a way for the internet to shape our daily lives. But this is far from a fact-based portrayal, as the filmmakers and actors never contacted any of their real-life counterparts. Zuckerberg pushed back against Eisenberg’s performance, which hints that he’s on the autistic spectrum. The Winklevoss twins criticized Sorkin’s script, claiming the writer embellished dramatic beats in their dealings with Zuckerberg. And Sean Parker hated his villainous take, stating, “he doesn’t think a billion dollars is cool.”
Upon the movie’s release in 2010, Facebook was flexing its muscles as it dominated the social media industry. However, Twitter, Snapchat, and later Instagram (the latter two Facebook eventually absorbed) would start to steal some of its thunder. I don’t think the filmmakers could reasonably predict the far-reaching effects of this new form of media. In the last decade, we’ve seen Facebook used to sway our presidential elections, the alarming spread of dangerous misinformation, and a surge in depression among teenage girls. It’s maddening to think that our government fails to regulate this wide-open way to communicate. The genie’s been released; how do we put it back in the bottle?
The Social Network was an instant critical and commercial hit, with Fincher and Sorkin in top form. The film earned 8 Oscar nominations, including Best Picture, Director, and Eisenberg for Best Actor. And Sorkin won a much-deserved statue for Best Adapted Screenplay. The movie was favored to win Best Picture going into the 2011 ceremony, and then in a famous upset, the Oscar went to The King’s Speech. While I enjoyed the Colin Firth starring epic, I think The Social Network was the more important film, exploring the origins of a technology that’s transformed the media, advertising, and the social fabric.