The film is a suppositional account (most of the key-players remain rather tight-lipped about what actually happened) of how Facebook was created and went from a tool for Harvard students to being a global phenomenon. It tells the story through the two law-suits that creator Mark Zuckerberg ended up defending (one from two rich twins who claim he stole their idea, and one from his former business partner who claimed he had been wrongfully forced out of his share of the company). What emerges is a completely compelling movie.
It has many strengths - the script from Sorkin is sharp and funny, whilst not missing the emotionals beats, as fans of The West Wing would expect. Right from the opening scene of Zuckerberg getting dumped in a bar the dialogue flies thick and fast and positively crackles at time. Fincher handles the action well and together they wisely make the decision not to answer the rights and wrongs of the various lawsuits and disputes, but to leave all the characters in a morally grey area that makes for a far more interesting film.
The cast is strong too. Andrew Garfield provides perhaps the most sympathetic route into the story as Eduardo Saverin, Zuckerberg's friend and business partner who becomes jealous and gradually eased out of the way by Zuckerberg's growing friendship with Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake - again proving he is one singer who can act well). Meanwhile Arnie Hammer and Josh Pence's privileged Winklevoss twins provide more in the way of comic relief as the Olympian rowers who think they came up with the idea in the first place.
However centre stage goes to the breakout performance of Jesse Eisenberg (Zombieland, Adventureland) as Zuckerberg himself. The casting is perfect and not just down to certain physical resemblance. Eisenberg convinces as the geeky, super-intelligent creator, whilst also being able to bring a hardness to the role that, say, Michael Cera wouldn't have been able to manage. This is crucial to the ambiguity that the film maintains towards its central character. Zuckerberg is often not very likeable - he starts out out of drunken revenge after being dumped by his girlfriend and comes across in some of the lawsuit scenes as completely arrogant. However, he is never quite a hard-headed monster. Whilst refusing to definitively answer any questions, the abiding impression of the man who created the world's biggest social network is of a lonely man, uncomfortable in social situations (maybe even with Aspergers tendancies). He is always on the outside of parties and the final shot of him is him continually hitting refresh, waiting for his ex-girlfriend to accept his friend request. How close is this to the real Zuckerberg, we may never know, but Eisenberg creates a compelling character.
Overall - 8.5/10 A fascinating and compelling take on a modern phenomenon.
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