10 Things About "The Social Network"

 

1. Smooth,  unpronounced special effects in making actor Armie Hammer into twins.
2. All the characters have the same vocabularies, speech patterns, and wit--but then the same could be said of Oscar Wilde's characters.
3. Director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin perform a small miracle in making a talky movie about computer programming and marketing that is interesting to watch, with hardly anything in the way of action, sex, or violence.
4. The camerawork and editing during the crew competition look great in a life-insurance commercial sort of way.
5. Great opening dialogue between Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara, poignantly scripted and well acted ... and nicely mirrored in the film's closing shot, underscoring the protagonist's loneliness with a quasi-Citizen Kane-style coda.
6. The film can be interestingly read as a drama about Jewish identity and intellectualism in the face of persistent American antisemitism.
7. A fine understated performance by John Getz as Sy--be sure to notice it.  No small roles only small ... etc., etc.
8. Trent Reznor's musical score suggests psycho thriller, subtly elevating what is basically dramedy-slash-biopic and giving emphasis to (perhaps?) underlying social critique.
9. This movie is this generation's Less Than Zero, for better or worse.
10. The movie invites smug superior laughter from the audience--so that placing sixth in the Olympics is something we all feel we have done, it would seem, and that we know oh so well the challenges of being a billionaire.  We leave the cineplex feeling smarter and more accomplished than we really are.  We know that "appletini" is funny and appalling, for reasons impossible for us to articulate.