The Social Network

I just watched the film "The Social Network". Its the history of the founders of the website Facebook. It has been lauded as one of, if not the, best films of 2010. I will leave that distinction to the historians and film critics. What I will say is this, I liked this film a great deal.

I originally thought that a film about the creator of Facebook may be interesting. But not Oscar-worthy. And I'm not saying here and now that it is worthy of an Academy award. But there is some damn fine acting in this film.

Jesse Eisenberg plays the main character, Mark Zuckerberg, a socially retarded undergrad at Harvard University. He is brilliant with computer and website programming. Much less so with people, even his friends. Eisenberg embodies this awkwardness brilliantly. He was equally excellent playing the straight man to Woody Harrelson's idiot in "Zombieland", and the dry humor of "Adventureland" also played to his strengths.

While I always enjoyed Justin Timberlake in his forays into Saturday Night Live land, I never really thought of him as an "actor". Well, pigs can fly. He acquits himself quite well in this film. His part is not as large as others, but he makes a much larger impact than some of the co-stars.

Director David Fincher did an excellent job. No doubt he will be up for an Oscar, along with Eisenberg. He also directed the excellent "Fight Club", and the crappy "Alien 3". Look next for his rendition of "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" coming out later this year.

I highly recommend this film. I enjoyed it a lot. I actually watched it in one sitting (setting), which is unusual for me. I have seen commercials that place it on more than 100 Top Ten lists of critics' favorite films from last year. It's certainly on mine.