Thoughts on The Social Network

Saturday, October 2, 2010 2:38 PM By Simon

-What can I say? The general consensus appears to hole up. Armie Hammer, as the Winklevoss twins, is comic brilliance. There's Dude from Art School Confidential, playing the other kind of college douchebag. Jesse Eisenberg is rather brilliant, making a part that is almost all the dreaded Reacting convincing, and despite his borderline-autistic interactions, you can see the wheels turning. Andrew Garfield, as Eduardo Saverin (Savarin?), co-founder and professional foil to Mark Zuckerberg, is less showy, but marvelously helpless as he tries to keep up with his friend (he doesn't even know how to change his relationship status, which, after five minutes on Facebook, is actually quite fucking frustrating). Justin Timberlake is the pop star brand of charismatic, as Sean Parker, Napster creator and designated Bad Influence.

-Rooney Mara has a seminal, but relatively bit role, with maybe three scenes, as Erica, Zuckerberg's girlfriend who, in the course of an already-infamous five-minute opening, breaks up with him over his offhanded sexism and general assholery. So, basically, the movie rises and sets on her.

-Brenda Song, who, people, I first knew as that chick from that Disney show about those blonde twins that, one of them, anyway, was in The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things. Anyway, she's rather good here, as the psychotic girlfriend (which is a totally different kind of psychotic) and former groupie of Eduardo. All of her parts in the trailer, though, were never really focused, and I kept assuming it was Rooney Mara.

-Anyway. I want to say this be the hottest young cast of the year, with so many up-and-comers you've got to wonder who's left to do the E! interviews, except using 'hottest' to refer to anything not involving the sun or coffee is, I'm afraid, not in my vocabulary.

-One thing that really made me laugh for some reason, these tiny bits of subtle humor that I think David Fincher put in, was, when Mark is first typing the word 'facebook' onto a Livejournal blog (oh, those days...), the computer read it as a typo.

-You know what? Say what you will about Zuckerberg's true intentions--autistic frathole with mad hacker skills or evil genius with mad hacker skillz--but I kind of think, in the movie, anyway, he secretly made Facebook, knowing it would bring about such phenomena, at least around Harvard campus, so that he could bring everyone else down to his level of social awkwardness. It's not a coincidence, or ironic, it's intentional and fucking conspiratorial. Ahem.

-I liked The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, okay? So I won't say this is his comeback. I'll just say it's his return to confronting, probing, masterful storytelling.

-Sorkin's dialogue isn't half bad either. I just wish there wasn't obnoxious people commenting on every easy joke right behind me.

5 comments:

Robert said...

Ughhh I want to see this SOOOO bad! Eeeeee. Glad to hear you liked it! :D

October 2, 2010 at 8:30 PM
Franz Patrick said...

Might be seeing it tomorrow w/ the BFF. Crossing my fingers.

p.s. lol at the livejournal thing. I'll be on the lookout for that one.

October 2, 2010 at 8:57 PM
Hal said...

"using 'hottest' to refer to anything not involving the sun or coffee is, I'm afraid, not in my vocabulary."

You're brillant.

October 3, 2010 at 1:10 AM
GoodOldParanoia said...

David Fincher might be the shiznit.

October 4, 2010 at 11:08 AM
"Yojimbo_5" said...

Review tomorrow.

Take some satisfaction that they only commented on "every easy joke." And some comfort that you're not as confrontational as I. At some point I start throwing popcorn ("Ooops!!"), but it's always better to do if they're not behind you...they can kick seats...or, if they have a discretionary belt, strangle you. Best strategy? Move. And leave them guessing, while you move on. Yeah. That's the ticket.

October 6, 2010 at 7:43 AM