The Social Network

Words cannot describe how brilliant The Social Network is.  Aaron Sorkin and David Fincher prove among the best writer-director pairings, arguably of all time.  Almost every line of dialogue is clever, subtly hilarious, and engaging all at once.  Sorkin’s snappy, fast-paced dialogue is perfect for the character of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg). As depicted, Zuckerberg is an objectively unsympathetic character for the entire of the runtime.  He has an inflated ego, is socially awkward (and not in an endearing way) and misogynistic, and mainly designs his websites to score dates.  However, if this script had largely likable characters, it would be far less engrossing to read and watch.    This is a character study in which every character has a different flaw, even the more sympathetic ones such as Facebook cofounder Eduardo Saverin (a pre-Spider-Man Andrew Garfield).  Due to this, it becomes a *Citizen Kane*-esque critique of the self-destruction that comes with ambitions of wealth, power, and status. Fincher directs the picture brilliantly, with his subtle, minimalist directing style fitting such a talky film.  The editing makes every ordinary dialogue sequence as engaging as a suspenseful thriller.  Nine Inch Nails’ Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ all-electronic score perfectly captures the artificiality of social media, and adds so much to each scene. Believe the hype.  The Social Network is by far one of the best films of the 2010s. “I can't stare at the loop of Niagara Falls, which by the way has nothing to do with the Caribbean.”