This past Sunday, I decided on a whim to go see The Social Network.  The theater was so incredibly packed that I had to sit separately from the two people I was with, which forced me to pass the candy and water that I illegally smuggled into the theater down an entire row of people. (Note: if you’re going to the Kips Bay AMC, there is a perfectly placed Rite Aid next door that sells insanely cheap candy and 50 cent bottles of water.)

The movie sort of went by in a blur.  It was two hours long, but felt like it was only 30 minutes.  I guess I was just so engrossed in JT’s brilliant acting that I lost track of time.  But honestly, Justin Timberlake did a pretty good job portraying Sean Parker, although I think they made him out to be way more of a villain than he is in real life.  The real bad guy in this movie is Mark Zuckerberg.  I hadn’t read The Accidental Billionaires (the book that the movie is based on, published by Vintage), and I never really paid attention to the various lawsuits that Zuckerberg was involved in.  In fact, before seeing this movie, I really knew nothing about the creation of Facebook other than the fact that the CEO was the youngest billionaire in America.  The movie and the story line were interesting enough that I actually felt compelled to google Mark Zuckerberg and see what he really looked like.  (Did you know he had a cameo on The Simpsons last Sunday? And he’s dating some girl named Priscilla Chan?)

The movie makes Zuckerberg out to seem like a total a-hole.  He can’t handle rejection, he blogs on Livejournal about how his ex-gf has small boobs, he compares women to farm animals, he screws over his only friend in the world, he is devoid of emotion. If anything, seeing this movie makes me feel less inclined to even use Facebook.   

The movie was great though and I highly recommend it to anyone, whether you’re on Facebook or not.  I am now anxiously awaiting a movie based on the turbulent beginnings of Myspace featuring Tom.