It took me a long time to see this movie, but I finally watched The Social Network. I didn’t see this in the theater even though everyone that saw it had nothing but good things to say about it. Considering that I am obsessed with social media, including but not limited to Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and more, it took me forever to finally watch this. But a Saturday night, home alone, and with nothing to do but be bored, I headed to Redbox and picked this up.
Now, this movie has since won a few awards at the Golden Globe Awards. It actually won movie of the year, and while this movie was good – very good – it does not deserve to be movie of the year. Let me start with the good parts about this film.
I have been on Facebook since the very beginning. The social service, to date, has over 600 million registered accounts and over 90 billion pieces of data. (That includes pages, events, groups, and more.) There is a lot of content on this social site, and recently it topped Google as the most visited site on the Internet with 7% of all web traffic, and 34% of all web searches. That is impressive to say the least. But the point of this blog post is not to talk about Facebook stats; it’s to talk about the movie.
This movie is the story of Facebook. As you may or may not know, the guy that originally started Facebook “stole” the idea. Whether that is true or not, he built it. The guys that he stole the idea from were going to have him build it regardless, hence why he was sued (for $600 million) and why he paid them without batting an eye. Facebook is currently worth $50 billion. So what he had to cough up (he being Mark Zuckerbuerg, Time Magazine’s man of the year) was nothing.
Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark in this film, and does a fantastic job with it. He deserves a few awards just for his role in this film. Justin Timberlake makes an appearance, as well as a few other faces you have seen on TV and on the big screen lately. But Jesse is the main character and plays a major part in this film. I mean, he is the guy who created Facebook.
The movie quickly jumps from the concept for the service to the development of the service, to Mark’s move to the Silicon Valley, and more. It is literally a two-hour montage. Then we get to the good stuff. Then the lawyers get involved. You see, two different parties were suing Mark at the same time. That is mixed in together, and could easily confuse the average viewer. I highly recommend you research the story of The Facebook before you watch this film. (Facebook was originally called The Facebook, until Sean Parker told him to change it. Speaking of Sean Parker, did you know that he created Napster?)
The ending of this film is horrible. You are literally smack dab in the middle of these two lawsuits, and then all of a sudden… it’s over. Sure, the story of Facebook lives on today. It will continue to grow until God knows when. But the movie could have ended differently and still had an equal impact.
The cast is great, the acting is incredible, and the movie is fun to watch. The soundtrack is mediocre, and for a film of this magnitude, a true iconic film that will be watched by millions of people, I felt they should have added a little more effort toward the soundtrack. But the movie was great, 4/5 stars from my perspective.
In Recent News
This just in; Sean Parker is calling the movie a joke. He called it a “complete work of fiction”. Mark, on the other hand, said this is pretty accurate, saying that what happened is in the film, but how it happened is not accurate. When he was originally sued for $600 million he walked into the room, took out his checkbook, and wrote out a check. It was that simple. But, as all Hollywood movies go, you have to add a love story and some action, alcohol abuse, and drug use to the mix to make a film successful. This film has all that and more.
If you are on Facebook (I would love to meet someone who is NOT on Facebook at this point in time), then you need to see this movie. It’s long, but keeps your attention. I applaud Jesse Eisenberg for his role, and I hope that Mr. Parker can get his stories straight. I hope he is not just trying to steal some of the spotlight from this great work of art.
Alright, well, I need to get back to Facebook. Or The Facebook? I think I like it as The Facebook. What do you think?
