I saw The Social Network last night with the hubbie. It was our “pizza and a movie” date night. I was looking forward to The Social Network for WEEKS and I was not disappointed at all. In fact, I was INSPIRED.
It really makes you think about that old adage that all the popular football jocks in your high school will be working as used car salesmen while all the nerdy geeks will rule the world. This movie will make you want to be a nerdy geek.
And if you happen to be a nerdy geek who knows how to program a computer? Well, then you can be a billionaire.
The young actors in the film (Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew “the next Spider-Man” Garfield, and hottie Justin Timberlake in a surprisingly large role) are awesome. Jesse Eisenberg stars (and this is truly a STAR performance) as Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg. Jesse really made me feel for and understand Mark Zuckerberg. On the surface, Mark is painted as an unfeeling jerk. He gets dumped by a girlfriend and SLAMS her on his blog. (A mesmerizing opening scene, BTW.) He gets sued by his best friend and seems to not care. But this guy is all about how he can create the biggest social network on the planet. It’s truly ironic because he is completely antisocial and sarcastic. But he wants to create a world where he becomes the king, or rather, that popular high school quarterback.
What is really cool about the movie is that it moves so quickly. The dialogue is fast and smart. You never get bored. You can tell that Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) is holding the reigns here. Nothing seems forced. Everything sounds authentic. There are some amazing conversations between Jesse as Mark and Justin as Napster founder Sean Parker that made me feel both uncomfortable and excited at the same time. (It was really neat to learn more about Sean Parker and his role in Facebook as well. And, HELLO, Justin Timberlake is a GREAT actor.)
The Social Network is a must-see for our generation. It will make you realize the power of one idea. The entire time I was thinking about where I was in 2003 when all of this was going down in a small Harvard dorm room. And it makes me wonder what is going on RIGHT NOW in some college dorm room that might change the world again.
And it inspired me to keep dreaming big.
Run and go see this movie. It’s awesome.
(Early predictions: Oscar nomination for Best Picture, for Best Lead Actor: Jesse Eisenberg and for Best Writing: Aaron Sorkin. I would say JT for Best Supporting Actor, but I just don’t know if “The Academy” is ready for him yet. Hopefully, I’m wrong.)
join the conversation