If you are in your 20s and earned a billion you know you have hit it big. It were the ‘hits’ on his website that earned Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) the title of youngest billionaire in the world. You probably have an account on this site- Facebook.
The movie opens with a slightly stretched scene of Mark being dumped by his girlfriend, and you’re praying this isn’t going to be the pace. Thankfully, once the newly-single computer programmer gets to work, the movie progresses at a pace so quick it can get difficult to catch up. Along with his best (and only) friend Eduardo (Andrew Garfield), he creates a seemingly innocent site out of vengeance. When the hits bust Harvard’s servers, he gets into trouble with school authorities.
That isn’t the only trouble he faces. One idea leads to another as his interest and curiosity pique and he finally sets up ‘The Facebook’. Starting as a college site, it is so viral it slowly spreads over the country and then the world. One integral contribution comes from, then future partner, Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake) when after a friendly dinner suggests ‘drop the The’ and it becomes ‘Just Facebook’.
Not everyone is as happy as the ‘cool’ Facebook team though. As the poster says ‘You don’t get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies.’ The enemies in question being the Winklevoss twins, who sue Zuckerberg for intelligence theft and a hoodwinked Eduardo. Armie Hammer plays the two athletic brothers with aplomb while Andrew is perfect as the loyal betrayed friend. Fincher alternates between Zuckerberg’s cases, simultaneously going through the various issues, hence interlinking the incidents to ultimately complete the story giving you the entire background by the end.
The direction has you engrossed in the story whether you are a computer programmer or not. Eisenberg’s dry sarcasm as he delivers the lightning paced lines of the slightly neurotic, brooding young founder, crack you up as much as he proves that gray emotions don’t make you a ‘bad person’. As tension mounts at legal tables, the young actors fling across allegations like a ping-pong ball, with a passion that reflects their dedication to their profession.
While certain things might slip by if you are not a computer geek, the compelling direction will have you hooked. The human thought process and emotions are portrayed so well that you can’t help but connect. In this ironic story about the antisocial founder of the most famous social networking site in the world, the simplicity of one thing stands out - even the youngest billionaire in the world has girl problems.
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