The Social Network is the dramatised story of the foundation of Facebook by Mark Zuckerberg, and, as the film goes out of its way to point out, his college friend-turned-accuser, Eduardo Saverin. A lot of attention has been focussed on the film’s depiction of the world’s youngest billionaire as an awkward but ruthless individual who achieves success only through repeated betrayals. In fact, the dirt is fairly evenly shared between the main characters, who receive close to equal screen-time with Zuckerberg, and who to a man are presented as unlikable and self-obsessed throughout, although not to the point of caricature. The sole survivor of this mass character assassination is Eduardo, who comes across as a decent individual wronged by a spiteful Zuckerberg. He doesn’t even get angry when his girlfriend tries to set fire to his bed, and frankly this rather undermines the film’s believability. In this, it follows the book on which it is based (with which the real Eduardo was involved), and this is a shame, as the makers have avoided over-sensationalising the story and could very easily have produced a film which had the ring of truth. Instead, by the end you’re surprised Zuckerberg can even be heard over the grinding of Eduardo’s axe.
Nevertheless, the film has done a lot right. The performances are excellent (Justin Timberlake being surprisingly believable as ever-so-slightly-mad Napster founder Sean Parker), and it wisely staggers the court case scenes throughout the running time to keep things moving swiftly. In spite of Zuckerberg’s constant stroppiness (he can barely manage even a post-coital smile) the film has many laugh-out-loud moments, and it is a testament to the scriptwriters that so boring a process as website-design can here be made so entertaining. The makers have even thought to reference the everyday issues people have with Facebook, which reminds the viewer of the impact of its creators, and manages to link the whole issue of how you define friendship presented in the story to the real world. And it is rare that a film can manage that.
Nevertheless, the film has done a lot right. The performances are excellent (Justin Timberlake being surprisingly believable as ever-so-slightly-mad Napster founder Sean Parker), and it wisely staggers the court case scenes throughout the running time to keep things moving swiftly. In spite of Zuckerberg’s constant stroppiness (he can barely manage even a post-coital smile) the film has many laugh-out-loud moments, and it is a testament to the scriptwriters that so boring a process as website-design can here be made so entertaining. The makers have even thought to reference the everyday issues people have with Facebook, which reminds the viewer of the impact of its creators, and manages to link the whole issue of how you define friendship presented in the story to the real world. And it is rare that a film can manage that.
