By now most of you – if not all of you – have heard something about “the Facebook movie.”  This is the movie in question: The Social Network.  Based on Ben Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires,” it tells the tale of Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg), and the development of Facebook (originally “The Facebook”), in what is quickly revealed to be a series of flashbacks during two separate lawsuits Zuckerberg is facing.  It seems that how he initially developed the site, as well as how he treated his best friend and partner, are in question.  We soon learn that Zuckerberg, while brilliant and forward thinking about the internet, is a social outcast, a nerd, and above all envious (or outright hostile) to the social structure of Harvard and the world at large. 

His genius is displayed early on as, while drunk and depressed over a breakup with his girlfriend, Zuckerberg – with help from his best and nearly only friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield) – spends an hour designing and building a site which allows Harvard students to vote on photos of female students, choosing who is hotter (while he simultaneously blogs ever move he makes).  The site receives over 20,000 hits from that small audience before crashing the Harvard network entirely.

It is Zuckerberg’s desire to be allowed into the Harvard elite community – especially the historic clubs – which drives his actions.  While Eduardo is accepted into one of the private clubs, Zuckerberg is ignored.  That is, until a trio of fellow students – each members of the most prestigious Harvard association - ask Zuckerberg to help them design an exclusive dating site for Harvard students.  His failure to ever deliver on that promise – as well as questions about if he built The Facebook around this project’s ideas and layout – are the basis for one of the two lawsuits we are placed within (the flashback scenes are all stories told during various depositions).

Soon The Facebook takes off, and while Zuckerberg himself seems not to care much about the financial rewards, his desire for credit and social acceptance leads him to crawl under the wing of Napster founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake).  Parker is given a piece of the company for what seems like basically no reason.  Then, as Parker and Zuckerberg party on the west coast, Eduardo pounds the pavement trying to find advertisers so they can turn the company into a money-making proposition.  In his absence, he received a royal screw-over, the subject of the second lawsuit.

Some of the dialogue is difficult to follow, either because of the location (a loud bar, a campus party, etc.) or because all the characters have slightly too cool remarks prepared for every occasion.  The story itself is quite interesting, and Eisenberg’s Mark Zuckerberg is played in a very crisp fashion: we never forget how awkward he feels, how looked-down-upon, and the resentment he carries deep inside him is forever in view.

Overall the film is a satisfying one, although it felt a bit too long.  Editing out 20 minutes of unnecessary details would have helped quite a bit.  Still, it’s worth a view.  Check it out, or wait for the DVD so you can use the subtitles and actually hear what everybody is saying.