The Social Network

The Social Network is a 2010 American biographical drama film directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's 2009 book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook, a Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal, the film portrays the founding of social networking website mh:rottenwebsites:Facebook and the resulting lawsuits.

Plot
In 2003, Harvard undergrad and computer genius Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) begins work on a new concept that eventually turns into the global social network known as Facebook. Six years later, he is one of the youngest billionaires ever, but Zuckerberg finds that his unprecedented success leads to both personal and legal complications when he ends up on the receiving end of two lawsuits, one involving his former friend (Andrew Garfield). Based on the book "The Accidental Billionaires."

Why It Rocks

 * 1) It stays true to the unforgettable event to how Facebook started and was created, detail by detail.
 * 2) The casting choices for each and everyone of the characters are amazing, mainly Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg who not only heavily resembles him but is also Jewish like him.
 * 3) Amazingly done character and story development.
 * 4) Mark Zuckerberg is an intelligent and well-performed main character.
 * 5) Each and everyone of the acting/performances are spot-on.
 * 6) Many memorable moments, such as how Mark creates a website called Facemash for people to judge one's attractiveness.
 * 7) David Fincher has brilliant skills as a director as well as Aaron Sorkin as writer.
 * 8) Interesting and relatable characters, such as Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, and the Winklevoss twins.
 * 9) Fantastic musical score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, especially an electronic version of "In the Hall of the Mountain King".
 * 10) The dialogue is outstanding.

The Only Bad Quality

 * 1) The CGI breath used for when Mark and Eduardo had an outside discussion looks really fake and is distracting from the scene.

Box office
The Social Network grossed $224 million on a $40 million budget, becoming a commercial success.

Critical response
The Social Network was widely acclaimed, who praised David Fincher's direction, the performances (particularly that of Jesse Eisenberg), screenplay, editing and score. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 96% based on 300 reviews, with an average rating of 9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Impeccably scripted, beautifully directed, and filled with fine performances, The Social Network is a riveting, ambitious example of modern filmmaking at its finest". On Metacritic, the film holds a score of 95 out of 100, based on 42 critics, indicating "universal acclaim" and making it one of the site's highest rated movies of all-time. Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.

Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, giving The Social Network four stars and naming it the best film of the year, wrote: "David Fincher's film has the rare quality of being not only as smart as its brilliant hero, but in the same way. It is cocksure, impatient, cold, exciting and instinctively perceptive". Peter Travers of Rolling Stone gave the film his first full four-star rating of the year and said: "The Social Network is the movie of the year. But Fincher and Sorkin triumph by taking it further. Lacing their scathing wit with an aching sadness, they define the dark irony of the past decade". The Harvard Crimson review called it "flawless" and gave it five stars. Quentin Tarantino listed The Social Network as one of his favorite 20 movies of the year, second to Toy Story 3.

Joe Morgenstern of The Wall Street Journal praised the film as exhilarating but noted: "The biographical part takes liberties with its subject. Aaron Sorkin based his screenplay on a contentious book, Ben Mezrich's The Accidental Billionaires, so everything that's seen isn't necessarily to be believed".

The film won Best Picture from the National Board of Review, National Society of Film Critics, New York Film Critics Circle, and Los Angeles Film Critics Association, making it only the third film in history – after Schindler’s List and L.A. Confidential – to sweep the "Big Four" critics awards. The film also won the "Hollywood Ensemble Award" from the Hollywood Film Awards. The Social Network appeared on 78 critics' top 10 lists for 2010; of those critics 22 had the film in their number one spot.

In August 2016, The Social Network was voted the 27th best film of the 21st century by the BBC, as voted on by 177 film critics from around the world.