The internet is full of dicks (hecklerspray excluded, of course). Just take a look around: there's that kid over there, blogging about his pathetic existence; that tweeting celebrity, moaning about their insufferable riches; and what about Justin Bieber? Ergh.
The internet is a horrible cesspit of words and pictures, never more aptly demonstrated than in social hub Facebook.
It's also appropriate then that the story behind the invention of the 21st Century?s most dominating stalker tool, The Social Network, is as full of nauseating idiots as its millions of inhabitants.
Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) is rich. This is a fact that he lets us know almost immediately as the non-linear nature of the film flitters to the Facebook creator?s later court cases surrounding the site. Yet, his ascension from mumbling genius to curly-haired billionaire isn't about the money; it's about notoriety.
It's an interesting contrast to the virtual, faceless nature of electronic communication that Zuckerberg?s fascination with gaining access to exclusive university clubs and his reputation are the only measures of success he requires.
However, it's not always Mark at the centre of the drama.
Facebook co-founder, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), open wallet to Zuckerberg at Facebook?s inception, feels as if he's being pushed out of the business he helped to build, when Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake – proving his acting chops) enters the frame. Parker, co-creator of Napster, is everything Zuckerberg wants to be: effortlessly hip, attractive and the inventor of technology that changed how we live our life – he’s probably got a big penis as well. Clearly, he’s important.
However, this isn’t?just a simple tale on?Facebook’s invention. While Saverin?sues Mark for his mistreatment, frat-boy rich kids, the Winklevoss twins and their cohort, Divya Narendra, also jump on the legal bandwagon, suing Zuckerberg claiming to be the originators of Facebook. Nothing is clear-cut, as the film doesn't concern itself with taking sides, instead allowing for each performance to speak for itself.
Eisenberg and Garfield are the standouts, with the former latching onto quirks, quick witticisms and vomiting intellectual babble with impressive momentum. Praise also has to be shouldered on the insufferably likeable Timberlake and the impressively named Armie Hammer, the latter playing both twins with some cunning technological wizardry.
Director David Fincher has a masterful handle on the storytelling, jumping between the early days of Facebook and the ensuing court cases. It's all helped by a fantastic script by Aaron Sorkin, former West Wing scribe, here transferring his talents onto a story people?in the UK give a shit about. He?takes?his?time to make each character resonate and sympathetic in each of their own struggles.
The Social Network is one of the finest contemporary dramas ever and will probably get marked as one of the defining films of the generation. It might even frighten some people to know that it's not even about Facebook at all?but?a story about interaction. Friendship, romance, business, they're all analysed through the invention of that cursed online portal.
It doesn't matter whose side you're on by the movie?s end, what you\’ll walk away with in one of the most brilliantly told true stories of today.
If you don't like it, we're going to unfriend you.
‘spray rating: 5/5
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