'facebook me'

So I saw The Social Network on the weekend.

We went to MadMex for lunch (i had the naked burrito and tortilla chips, so good) and then played a bit of Big Buck Hunter over at Intensity (no joke, this actually happened AND some redneck came over to the BF and asked if he was a professional shooter, umm???).

Anyway, The Social Network (in case you've been living under a rock) is about Mark Zuckerberg who (in case you've been living under a rock) is the founder of facebook (i'm not going to do the rock thing again cause i'm pretty sure there's facebook there too!). Zuckerberg, played by Jesse Eisenberg, is an arrogant Harvard genius geek who is both cunning and incredibly awkward and right from the beginning you are made to feel slightly irked but his confidence yet feel compassion for what inevitably takes place. The film begins with him having a conversation with his girlfriend. It's one of those typical Ivy League set ups that makes you feel incredible self conscious that there are 18 years olds somewhere out there having conversations like the cast from The West Wing (incidentally on purpose, Aaron Sorkin, was the creator and writer for the West Wing Season 1-4 and was the screenwriter for this film) all quick witted and intelligent and shit.

Zuckerberg is a freak genius and Sorkin reveals this very early suggesting that despite what his competitors say, he was going to invent something that would change the world with or without the help of the people who inevitably take him to court. The opening scenes are intercut with scenes obviously taking place after the launch of facebook when Zuckerberg is caught up in two separate lawsuits. Along the way we see the breakdown of the friendship/partnership between Zuckerberg and his BFF Eduardo Saverin as well as a cameo by Napster founder Sean Parker (played by Justing Timberlake excuse me!!) who really encourages the spread of the site.

Progressing similar to most bio pics, the film maps the creation of the biggest thing in on line media that the world has ever seen, and it's quite fascinating to learn how the 6 year old company has developed to being worth 25 billion dollars, making Zuckerberg the youngest billionaire in the world. One of the lines that stood out to me was 'they don't have roads in Bosnia but they have facebook'. This is the ultimate message of the movie, communication has never been so important, accessible and addictive as it is today and it's only going to get bigger with the newly unveiled plans to develop facebook email set to completely scare the pants off competitors.

I really liked this films for it's pace, it's narrative, the script and character development and for Justin Timberlake who, in his first sceen, i didn't even recognise. Eisenberg is awesome as usual and I think his baby face encourages more compassion towards Zuckerberg then perhaps is really appropriate. All in all, it's great and the posters are awesome. They are designed by the amazing poster designer Neil Kellerhouse. So next weekend while everyone is seeing Harry Potter, oh, sorry HP7 which it is now officially called, go have some mexican food, play a bit of the Big Buck and check out The Social Network.