The Social Network (2010)

The Social Network is tightly and aptly directed by David Fincher. Jesse Eisenberg simply nails Mark Zuckerberg as the technical savant slash social idiot who seizes a historical place in the high-tech pantheon that includes the founders of Microsoft, Apple, Netscape, Napster, and Google. As usual, Aaron Sorkin writes a script that is glib (fast-paced and intelligent) and biting (funny and relevant). Fincher, Sorkin, and Eisenberg together give us a fascinating psychological picture of the narcissistic technoweenie turned obscenely successful entrepreneur. It is a movie for our times, when 20-year-old boys in jeans and t-shirts objectify and darwinistically dissect women on the Internet even as some become millionaires and billionaires almost overnight. It is often a profile of snark incarnate: Eisenberg so fixates on each technical challenge that his personal ties with everyone around him quickly fall under friendly fire and passive-aggressive attacks ("No, I don't think you deserve my full attention. ... Does that sufficiently answer your condescending question?"). He is so into his own head that it is all the way up his -- well, that's what people say he is too. He is so convinced he's right -- correcting others' every minor inconsistency -- that he can't conceive of the validity of anyone else's opinion or conclusions. He is not even aware of how deeply he offends others until they raise a ruckus -- after which he mouths an apology that is rote and insincere. Justin Timberlake is very good as the inventor of Napster turned loose-cannon celebrity around whose orbit Zuckerberg elects to revolve. Enjoy! 5 stars. (1-12-2011, posted 7-3-2016)