The Social Network - Movie Review

Finally, the long summer is over! Movie lovers can return to the theater. We can see drama, sharp dialogue and character development. Fall is here and with it comes the Oscar season. The year has had a few gems so far, but the next three months will bring the movies we will be talking about next January when the Oscar nominations are announced. The first movie of this season is "The Social Network."

The movie tells the story of the creation and development of Facebook. The movie is actually based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires." The story is told via two depositions that are occuring during the same time period and focusing on who invented Facebook. The story is incredibly interesting, most likely because the movie covers a very current topic. The only issue with the story is that it feels unfinished. This is because the saga of Facebook is unfinished, the site is still changing and constantly makes headlines with privacy issues.

The script was written by Aaron Sorkin ("The West Wing,"SportsNight") and it shows. Anyone familiar with anything he has written can expect the same thing here. Fortunately, his writing has yet to show signs of aging is still sharp and crisp. I am sure that after additional viewing I will be quoting this film as often as possible. The cast is more than capable of handling Sorkin's script. Jessie Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield (the next Spiderman) and Justin Timberlake all play their roles to perfection. Eisenberg shows some amazing talent here. He reminds me of Michael Cera but with depth and the ability to play more then one type of character.

The movie was directed by David Fincher ("Seven", "Fight Club"). However he really didn't have much to work with. The direction was solid but there was nothing really spectacular about it. Looking back at it, I can't think of any standout scene or sequence. However, there was no scene that felt awkward or out of place, an achievement on its own.

Overall it's a great movie, it's only real flaw is that the story ends up being light on any real drama. The movie is incredibly well made and for that reason it gets 4.5 out of 5 stars.