The Social Network

Rated PG-13

4.5 bagels out of 5

By Howie Nave

First off, I have to admit it’s pretty surreal posting daily on the very social networking site that has been turned into a movie. It’s also trippy that had Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg (played eerily to perfection by Jesse Eisenberg) learned better social skills when it came to the opposite sex, he probably wouldn’t have invented the social network known as Facebook.

You can bet that MySpace founders Tom Anderson and Chris DeWolfe would have wished for that.

“The Social Network” is not just about Zuckerberg, but also about the obstacles that were created as the money and popularity started rising. The movie is explained in a narrative format with flashback scenes giving us a peek into the environment as to how it was invented. The movie is edited in a way that it moves along at a pace that keeps the viewer interested even if you’re not into the high-tech geeky stuff. One moment you’re on campus thinking that Facebook was a means to checking out the hot chicks on campus and then speeds forward to the present where your friends are suing you for untold millions and then back to Zuckerberg’s awkward behavior in a social environment getting ready to create the world’s premiere social device to connect people from around the world.

In essence, the movie is less about the genius of the invention but more about those who you thought were your friends and then want to back stab you in any way they can. Ultimately money is to blame as the stakes became higher than anyone could have imagined — not to mention bragging rights for historical reasons.

At the heart of this movie is actor Jesse Eisenberg who’s come a long way from “Adventureland,” “Zombieland” and on-land movies such as “The Squid and the Whale.” He not only has Zuckerberg’s characteristics down, but also has an uncanny resemblance giving “The Social Network” almost the look of a documentary.

What’s interesting is at its core Facebook was first conceived and limited to is fellow Harvard students, but was expanded to other colleges in the Boston area before becoming the network phenom that it is today. And to think had he not been dumped by his girlfriend, Erica (Rooney Mara) and getting drunk pulling off an all-nighter creating the seed of what was to come we might not be communicating here at all now would we?

Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin (creator of TV’s “The West Wing”) “The Social Network” also surrounds itself with a top-notch supporting cast that includes Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin, Facebook’s co-founder, Josh Pence and Armie Hammer as two brothers who claim Zuckerberg stole their idea and Justin Timberlake in a first-rate job as Napster founder Sean Parker. But it’s Eisenberg as the nerdy Zuckerberg who manages to be the most interesting of the lot as is Sorkin and Fincher who have crafted a modern day classic within our lifetime.

“The Social Network” is rated PG-13 for sexual content, drug and alcohol use, language and clocks in at two hours.

Howie Nave is host/emcee/manager of The Improv at Harveys. You can hear him Monday-Friday 6 to 10am on KRLT FM-93.9.