Yes, I mean the Facebook movies, plural. There are two movies now at the multiplex which prominently feature the web phenom Facebook. I'll start with the most well known The Social Network starring Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield and Justin Timberlake. In sum, the movie tells the story of how Mark Zuckerberg created Facebook out of his Harvard dorm room and the litigation that ultimately followed. I'll begin with what I disliked the most--first, Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg as if he has Asperger Syndrome. While I believe Zuckerberg was probably nerdy and introverted, the film made his social awkwardness more like a disorder than a quirk. I don't blame Eisenberg's acting, but instead how he was directed to portray Zuckerberg. The second thing that got on my nerves was the portrayal of Asian women as nerd chasing sexpots. [Truth be told, the women in this movie, with the exception of Rashida Jones as an attorney, mostly factor into this story as objects of teen-aged lust and randiness.] But other than that, I really liked the movie. With the screenplay written by Aaron Sorkin, the dialogue in the movie really pops and he is able to move the story, which has very little action, in a very engaging and at times humorous pace. In addition to showing the rise of a billion dollar company and its unexpected mogul, the film also captures the death of a friendship [between Zuckerberg and his partner Eduardo Saverin played by Garfield], forcing us to ponder what is really important a billion dollar idea or a priceless friendship? GO SEE IT.
The other "Facebook movie" is the provocative documentary Catfish. I'm not going to write too much about this movie, because the less you know, the better you will enjoy it. But ask yourself, when you friend someone on Facebook, do you really know who you're "friending" and is a relationship built over a social network really all that it seems? These filmmakers go to great lengths to find out with surprising in heartening results. GO SEE IT.
The film begs lots of questions about how, and when, it became clear any of this was worth documenting, but it certainly was. I still don't know whether this was real or not, but despite that all, I was still interested while watching this. Good review, check out mine when you can!
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