3 1/2 stars out of 5I love the opening scene with Aaron Sorkin's clever, sarcastic, shot-gun dialogue where Mark Zuckerberg's girlfriend breaks up with him, telling him he'll probably be a really successful computer person but he'll end up alone. Not sure that's the case in real life but her words paint the mood of this film.
Is he really the unethical schmuck the script shows him to be? I have a friend who gives his behavior a pass with a medical diagnosis of Social Anxiety Disorder. My medical diagnosis: Gigantic Asshole Disorder. If this story is to be believed Zuckerberg's an unethical, back-stabbing liar so if you like that kind of person you'll root for him but I found him sadly despicable. And Jesse Eisenberg's portrayal of him left me a little flat. He's a great comic actor (the Jewish Michael Cera), but not that good in a dramatic role. His performance was one-dimensional. I would have liked more nuance; some humanity, vulnerability. Without that it's hard to sympathize.
One of my favorite things about the movie which I didn't know while watching it was that the twins, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss, were both played, digitally, by Armie Hammer (great name). Technical wizardry at its best.
But there was another digital enhancement which drove me crazy. In a scene where Zuckerberg and his buddy go outside of a bar to have a private conversation (where we're told it's 20 degrees) they don't appear to be all that cold but there's an excess of digital condensation coming from their mouths as they talked. Weirdly unnecessary and obvious.
All in all this is a good two hours. Not great but good.
BTW, I didn't believe for a minute that a nerd like Zuckerberg would have such an intelligent and hot girlfriend (remember that beginning scene?).
2 comments:
Why are people so obsessed with calling Jesse Eisenberg the "Jewish Michael Cera"?
Nobody seems to call Joseph Gordon-Levitt the "Jewish Heath Ledger".
Nobody calls Logan Lerman the "Jewish Zac Efron" (yes, I know Zac Efron is part Jewish, but something tells me that's not the reason).
This habit of Jew-identification appears to be very inconsistent.
For future reference:
Actors of fully Jewish background: -Logan Lerman, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mila Kunis, Natalie Portman, Bar Refaeli, James Wolk, Julian Morris, Esti Ginzburg, Kat Dennings, Erin Heatherton, Odeya Rush, Anton Yelchin, Paul Rudd, Scott Mechlowicz, Lizzy Caplan, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Gal Gadot, Robert Kazinsky, Melanie Laurent, Marla Sokoloff, Shiri Appleby, Justin Bartha, Adam Brody, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Gabriel Macht, Halston Sage.
Actors with Jewish mothers and non-Jewish fathers -Jake Gyllenhaal, James Franco, Scarlett Johansson, Daniel Radcliffe, Alison Brie, Eva Green, Emmy Rossum, Jennifer Connelly, Eric Dane, Jeremy Jordan, Joel Kinnaman.
Actors with Jewish fathers and non-Jewish mothers, who themselves were either raised as Jews and/or identify as Jews: -Andrew Garfield, Ezra Miller, Alexa Davalos, Nat Wolff, James Maslow, Josh Bowman, Ben Foster, Nikki Reed, Zac Efron.
Actors with one Jewish-born parent and one parent who converted to Judaism -Dianna Agron, Sara Paxton (whose father converted, not her mother), Alicia Silverstone, Jamie-Lynn Sigler.
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