The Social Network (2010)

[Ryan Scott]

We rented The Social Network last night. It was an entertaining movie. It tells a sensationalistic version of the founding of Facebook and the rise of Mark Zuckerberg to the status as world's youngest billionaire. Jesse Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg, a socially awkward computer programming savant trying to make a name for himself at Harvard. The story revolves around depositions for two lawsuits against him - using the testimony as flashback to relive events during the early years of the website's development.

It's rated PG-13 and there's some scantily clad women at various points along with some mild drug use. Not a ton of profanity.

I'd describe this as a sort of derivative update on Citizen Kane (complete with his own Rosebud) - the story of a powerful man who would stop at nothing to succeed.

There's some decent acting performances, but the highlight is the script by Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing). He's the best writer of dialogue alive today.

[Jeremy D. Scott]

We watched it last night. As I have mentioned on Naznet before, Mark Zuckerberg intrigues me. So I had been hoping to see this for a while. Of Nazarene connection, Brett Leigh (stage name for Brett Shellenberger, yes, I believe the nephew of Susie), an ENC alum, has a quick role as one of the senior students in the frigid "initiation" scene. You can watch the scene (slight language) here on his website.

I guess we'll never really know all the details of the litigation between Zuckerberg and the Winklevoss brothers, but I found myself time and again unable to separate the mystery of the facts with the plotline of the movie. The fact that those guys got $65 million is unbelievable to me. It makes me wonder if I ever brushed by Zuckerberg while in Cambridge during my senior year at ENC (his freshman year at Harvard) so that I might sue him for something. Surely he got the idea for the "Poke" feature from our brush-by and that's gotta be worth $1 million or so, right?

Anyway, the movie had more skin than I am personally comfortable with, but I suppose that's to be expected in a movie involving college boys. I thought Eisenberg did a great job, and much of the dialogue was quick and humorous.

Since Zuckerberg intrigues me so, I feel as though they probably overdid his savant-personality, despite Eisenberg's great portrayal of the character in the script. But, much was overdone, as has been well-reported by people on all sides of the litigation and involved in various aspects of the true story.

I do wonder, but couldn't find anywhere, if he indeed sat in on a Bill Gates seminar while at Harvard. It seems unlikely because he really wasn't there that long. But I wonder about it because I still think that the name "Zuckerberg" will mean more within the history of technology in the long-run than either "Gates" or "Jobs."

[Jeremy D. Scott]

Lo and behold, Mark Zuckerberg "confronted" Jesse Eisenberg last night on SNL.

[Bradley Grinnen]

one of the best opening scene dialogues that i can remember.