Jesse Eisenberg first drew my notice with a terrific performance as an adolescent boy in "The Squid and the Whale," five years ago. Opening today in "The Social Network," Eisenberg has become an actor of stature, despite the fact that he won't be 27 until next Wednesday.
As Mark Zuckerberg, the boy genius who created (some say stole) Facebook and transformed social communication, Eisenberg is outstanding in every respect. So is the movie, thanks in large part to Aaron Sorkin's screenplay. Sorkin is a master of dialogue, shown in his play and film, "A Few Good Men," and more recently in many episodes of "The West Wing." He also understands comedy, as can be seen in "Charlie Wilson's War." Sorkin and director David Fincher have made a remarkable, entertaining, powerful movie, one of the very best I've seen this year.
What makes "The Social Network" even more outstanding is the fact that much of it alternates between a formal hearing at a conference table and a group of computer geeks at their keyboards. Neither is a site for filmic intensity, but Sorkin's dialogue and Fincher's direction keeps everything tense, tight and fast-moving. Outstanding work.
We meet Mark and his girl friend, Erica (Rooney Mara), over beer in a busy, noisy bar, obviously a Harvard hangout. Mara, by the way, is portraying Lisbeth Salander in the Hollywood version of the Stieg Larsson books, but her screen time is brief enough that it's impossible to handicap how she will handle the Swedish rebel and hacker. However, as someone who knew her pro football (Rooney=Pittsburgh Steelers; Mara=New York Giants) forebears, I think they're spinning in their graves.
They argue. She leaves. He returns to his Harvard dorm and in a move that shows an amazing lack of class and maturity, he trashes her on a college site. Then he goes on to insult half the women at Harvard with a "who's hot, who's not?" contest on the site.
Eisenberg is amazing as young Zuckerberg. Of course, this is the Sorkin-Fincher version of the genius who revolutionized computer communication, perhaps not the real one.
This one shows arrogance and petulance brilliantly.
The filmmakers take some real shots at Harvard, too, from its snobby social organizations to the Winklevoss twins, Tyler and Cameron, who denote WASP culture with satirical overtones right out of a Daumier drawing. Mostly, they're both played by Armie Hammer, another example of social casting. He's the great-grandson of oil tycoon Armand Hammer and, with help from makeup and costume, and some from body double Josh Pence, he's awfully good in his depiction of the guys who developed the initial form of Facebook. They were Olympic rowers and they row in the famed Henley Regatta, but they initially refuse to take action–legal or otherwise–against Zuckerberg because it's not the Harvard way. Instead, they go to Harvard president Larry Summers (a delightful, imperious moment by Douglas Urbanski) and ask him to "do something" about Zuckerberg, as if they were all third-graders.
There's also good work from Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, the creator of Napster and a man riding Zuckerberg's coat tails with tales of potential glory and sex. And Parker's opposite, Eduardo Savarin, earns a rich portrayal by Andrew Garfield, as an early friend and investor in Zuckerberg who is led down the primrose path by Zuckerberg and Parker, being fleeced of a great deal of money along the way.
The film, based on Ben Mezrich's book, "The Accidental Billionaires," is shot in somber tones, giving the Cambridge scenes an almost-dreary look of early winter and early dusk. By contrast, Henley and California are extra bright. Overall, we have a sweet melding of writing, direction and acting that results in a brilliant piece of work. At the risk of sounding repetitious, it's a terrific movie.
The Social Network opens today on a number of screens.
—Joe