The Social Network Review

Literally everyone and their mother uses Facebook, so I was not surprised to see the insane amount of hype regarding The Social Network. Jesse Eisenburg was great in Zombieland alongside Emma Stone and Woody Harrelson. I was also curious to see how Andrew Garfield's performance would play out, as he will be playing Peter Parker in the upcoming Spider-Man reboot. While The Social Network is an interesting watch, I'm not sure all the hooplah is warranted.

The Social Network is all about it's characters, and performances from individual actors vary in quality quite a bit. By far the best of the crew is Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, the original co-founder and CFO of Facebook. Andrew successfully displays Eduardo's frustrations in dealing with Zuckerburg and does an amazing job of portraying the character's emotional peaks and valleys throughout the film. I have no doubt that Andrew Garfield is going to blow Toby Macguire's Peter Parker out of the water. Jesse Eisenburg on the other hand gives a performance that is quite awkward to watch. In both Adventureland and Zombieland, Jesse played a nervous, jittery, and frustrated character trying to find his way through life. Although his character in The Social Network has more purpose and drive than his previous characters, he still gives a performance similar to his previous offerings. Eisenburg is falling victim to the Michael Cera curse, and it doesn't help that half the people who see The Social Network believe Jesse Eisenburg to be Michael Cera, and I have had to correct several myself.

The Social Network opens with Mark Zuckerburg explaining the social state of Harvard to his soon to be ex-girlfriend Erica Albright. Mark is desperate to get into a final club, and is trying to come up with a significantly unique project to make him stand out on campus. For much of the film, Mark is portrayed as a prodigy. Being the youngest billionaire in the world, I'm sure this holds true to some degree, however the film portrays his programming and creative abilities as inherent superpowers, rather than products of his education or past experience.

While every other character in the film is enjoying the experience of their new found fame and the overwhelming public interest in their project, Mark is portrayed as unsatisfied and unable to enjoy himself until he has met his unexplained goals. While it's possible the director wanted to portray Mark as an alienated nerd incapable of thinking beyond his business dealings and his ego, it causes Jesse Eisenburg's performance to clash with the other more emotionally wrought characters of the film.

The format is a bit strange as well. Much of the narrative is directed through various settlement meetings between Zuckerburg and those he has underhanded. The film goes back and forth between these meetings and the story of the company's less than humble beginnings. This is not necessarily an unusual format and is fairly effective as far as setting the overall tone of the film, and such scenes also give Andrew Garfield some additional screen time which is also a nice bonus.

While The Social Network is definitely worth a watch, especially if you are an active Facebook user, there is not much here beyond dramatized historical reference. I honestly have no desire to see the film again and if asked by another to join them, I would have to decline. No scene really stood out as intriguing and there is no real innovation as far as storytelling is concerned. You can definitely wait for this one on Blu-ray. Although this will be a must purchase for many Facebook users, for me once is enough.