BEETLE GETS SUCKED INTO THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Who ever thought that a movie about the creation of Facebook and the proceeding lawsuits concerning it would be so surprisingly great? Certainly not me. When word got out that a Facebook movie was being made most scoffed at the idea of it and mourned the death of creativity in the movie biz. Well, now those who do see this underated masterpiece will find themselves eating their own words.

The Social Network (or as I call it The Facebook Network) follows the story of college aged genius Mark Zuckerberg (Played brilliantly by Jesse Eisenberg, who appears to finally have broken out of his role as the other Michael Cera) and his lone friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield, who is also the new Peter Parker in the Spider-man reboot) as they both create the network we now know as Facebook. Justin Timberlake also makes a superb performance as the slimey Sean Parker, the broke creator of Napster that smells money to be made with Facebook and quickly befriends Mark and becomes a collaborater of the hit social site. Of course Mark ends up making quite a few mistakes as he bumbles his way through his new-found popularity, making decisions that angers his classmates and friends resulting in several lawsuits, which the film dutifully follows for the duration of its running time.

The Social Network is surprisingly more focused on the lawsuits than it is on the actual creation of Facebook. The film spends a good portion of its first half going into detail on how Facebook was conceptualized and how the different aspects of Facebook (The name, the relationship status, The Likes and Interests page) were thought up. For the rest of its 2 hr running time (The film moves at a surprisingly swift pace though) it focuses mainly on the 2 lawsuits that resulted from Facebook and features a number of lengthy flashbacks which explain how our characters got into this situation we see them in now.

Just about every performance found in this film is a strong one. Eisenberg is a vision as Mark Zuckerberg. He easily dissapears into the role. For once his character found here is not a pure funny guy. Mark is a well-meaning but flawed individual who can't understand why everyone is angry at him. He has several sarcastic quips throughout the film and it isn't hard to imagine why almost everyone dislikes him. Andrew Garfield is great as Marks best friend, Eduardo Saverin. Mark makes him the CFO of Facebook. Eduardo continually fights for his friend and tries to steer him onto the right path until, finally even he can't take it anymore leading to one of the best scenes in the entire film. Justin Timberlake also puts on the great performance; probably the best one of his career; as Sean Parker. He slithers into Marks life like the snake in the Garden of Eden, planting ideas into Marks head which eventually will make for problems that are addressed later on in the film. Timberlake is perfectly slimey, but also surprisingly likeable as the ultra-cool but also troublesome Parker.

Helping the actors with their roles is the superb script by Aaron Orkin. The lines whip by at a speedy pace and are so painfully witty that it left my head spinning every now and then at their grandeur. Their are some outstanding lines throughout the film, and some fantastic scenes as well, more than any film like this has a right to have. I can almost guarentee you that The Social Network will most likely run away with the Oscar for best Screenplay this year.

While most quickly assumed The Social Network to be a lame duck in the movie options of this fall, I am happy to report that against all odds the film has repeadetly proven itself to be quite the opposite. It's a beautiful work of art that any fan or member of Facebook should run out to see as soon as they can, because in a wierd way this is our story too.

4/5 stars FULL PRICE