Status update

Jesse Eisenberg

Whether you think Facebook is a brilliant way to connect with people; a privacy-invading, productivity-destroying time suck; or just a plague on all our houses, you’re absolutely right. It’s all of those things. It’s digital crack, uplifting and depressing at the same time, and founder / CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the youngest billionaire in history, is the world’s foremost digital-crack dealer.

Jesse Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg in The Social Network, David Fincher’s new movie about the early days of Facebook, and as you may have heard, it’s not a flattering portrayal. But Eisenberg is terrific, playing the young man who created the world’s most socially connected environment as someone who’s socially disconnected—an awkward, maladjusted dork who’s intensely intelligent and utterly lacking in empathy.

As you may know, Zuckerberg created Facebook as an undergrad at Harvard. He was hired by two brothers, Cameron (Armie Hammer) and Tyler Winklevoss (again, Armie Hammer), and their business partner, Divya Narendra (Max Minghella), to create the Harvard Connection, an exclusive social networking site that sounds a little like, well, Facebook.

Instead, Zuckerberg used their ideas as a springboard for, well, Facebook. His best friend, Eduardo Savarin (Andrew Garfield, a talented young actor who’s been cast as the next Spider-Man), came on as investor and CFO, but once the status updates took off, Zuckerberg dropped out of school, teamed up with Napster founder Sean Parker (a suave, sleazy Justin Timberlake) and shoved Savarin out the door. Before long, the Winklevosses and Savarin sued Zuckerberg in federal court for their share of the Facebook pie. Therein is the story of The Social Network.

While Eisenberg is the face of the movie, his co-star is actually Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay. Sorkin, the man behind The West Wing and Sports Night, adapted Ben Mezrich’s breezy best-seller The Accidental Billionaires, and his dialogue crackles even though the entire movie is based on a conceit—it takes place via flashbacks that occur during depositions for the lawsuits.

Yes, it’s being referred to as this generation’s Citizen Kane, primarily because it also purports to show Zuckerberg’s obsessions as being the true roots of Facebook. Status update: It’s not.

In fact, if you’re expecting The Social Network to make you think differently about Facebook, think again. Fincher’s film is barely about Facebook at all. It’s about the germination of ideas and business and how these things all tie together. (Also, it’s about briefly introducing you to Mara Rooney, who’ll play Lisbeth Salander in Fincher’s next movie, the U.S. version of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.)

In any case, it’s briskly entertaining, progressing at a clip that rivals the Most Recent updates in your News Feed. Fincher doesn’t make stupid movies, and while The Social Network doesn’t have the style and flair of Fight Club or even Zodiac, it’s solidly crafted and cut together with the urgency of a viral video.

Now, all of that said, it’s not perfect. It runs a little long. While Sorkin’s dialogue is crisp, some of the events time out in ways that are just too good to be true. And Mezrich’s book, which came out of extensive interviews with Savarin— who seems to be the party most wronged in all of this—is clearly biased in that direction. Lastly, though Zuckerberg can come across as awkward and strange in interviews, it’s hard to believe he’s as single-minded and occasionally spiteful as Eisenberg portrays him.

But, like Facebook itself, there’s something infectious about The Social Network. It’s well-written, wellmade and well-acted. It’s funny and occasionally tragic.

We’ve all had nights where it’s time to go to bed but then someone sends you a message on Facebook, and you decide to respond, and the next thing you know, it’s two hours later, you’re wide awake and totally immersed in the lives and activities of everyone you know, for better or for worse. That’s what The Social Network is like. It’s pleasing. Slightly addictive. Ultimately not that important, but tough not to enjoy.

Write to anders@sdcitybeat.com and editor@sdcitybeat.com.