Networking

Before I headed out Las Vegas, I caught the new movie The Social Network. It's received some notoriety as "the Facebook movie," a somewhat fictionalized account of the motivations behind the creators of Facebook, and an examination of the hardship that led them into a lawsuit against each other.

What the movie is also getting noticed for, and much more appropriately, is the exceptional lineup of people involved in its creation. It's written by Aaron Sorkin, the man who created The West Wing and Sports Night, and who wrote the fantastic films A Few Good Men and The American President. This movie is crammed to bursting with his signature rapid-fire and witty dialogue, and populated with intelligent characters that are a challenge for the audience to keep pace with.

The triumph here for Sorkin is that he's done his "schtick," if you will, in reverse. Where he often writes characters who are abrasive at the outset, but soon grow into people you love and root for, The Social Network is populated with characters who are at their most sympathetic when you first meet them. The more the film unspools, the more you dislike them -- the protagonist perhaps most of all. But even as the characters become less likable, the film remains fun and engaging.

The director is David Fincher, the highly stylized filmmaker behind Seven and Fight Club, among others. The film is a triumph for him too, because it bears his fingerprints less than any of his previous movies. He's never made anything this dialogue-driven, with this little visual effects flash in it. (Though the movie does have its share of effects wizardry, in the form of a single actor playing identical twins.) He's never made a movie like this, but still gets excellent performances from his actors.

The main trio of actors in the film are Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, and Justin Timberlake. Jesse Eisenberg is best known for the fantastic Zombieland and average Adventureland. Until now, it wouldn't be unfair to think of him as the guy you hire when Michael Cera isn't available -- he's played similar characters so far. His role in this film starts from the same "social misfit geek" origins, but quickly reveals itself as an entirely different performance.

Andrew Garfield is being talked about right now due to his recent casting as Tobey Maguire's replacement in the next Spider-man film. Here is his chance to show, before that hits, that he can indeed act.

Justin Timberlake's acting has been almost entirely comedic so far. His role is the smallest of the three, but he's still crucial in the movie, plays no more likable a character, and is still very effective in it.

So fine work all around from writer, director, and actors. Still, I won't quite give the move a rave review. It was certainly intellectually stimulating. But it's not really emotionally stimulating on any level. The movie never really tries to make you feel joy or sympathy for its characters. You laugh, but you don't cry. You don't feel much of anything. It's simultaneously a very smart and clever movie, and a movie with rather low aspirations. It's a "talkie movie's" version of a "big dumb action movie." Good for what it is, but unlikely to offer any more on repeat viewings.

But I would recommend it. I rate it a B. If you don't check it out in theaters now, make a note to look for it on DVD a few months down the road.