It is the story of the guys who started Facebook and is told in flashback. If I had been watching it at home on DVD I would have switched on the English subtitles, because I was struggling a bit in the initial scenes to understand what was said. The cinematography is beautiful, occupying parts of the palette from gold through yellows and beiges to black, and the image quality is stunning. The main actor, Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Mark Zuckerberg, is very good. I thought that from the outset his partner, Eduardo (played by Brit Andrew Garfield), always looked like a looser, which he was, and there was never any plausible dramatic tension between them. When Sean Parker (played by Justin Timberlake), who set up Napster, appears on the scene some dramatic tension builds. At the beginning of the story Eisenberg did some fancy footwork with Vinklevoss twins (both played by the same actor, Armie Hammer!), and there are several scenes where the Vinklevosses, with their cherub-faced friend, sit around complaining to each other that they are doing nothing to stop Zuckerberg outsmarting them. This plot strand becomes tedious, repetitive and over-long. In addition the story decamps to the Henley Regatta, or all places, because the Winklevosses are rowers, and there is a clubhouse scene with a British prince. This may amuse Americans, but all it seemed to bring of relevance to the film was the information that Facebook usage had spread to English universities. There was some bizarre photography of the Vinklevosses rowing, using excessive prespective to make them seem even more clownish than they already did. I think that three clowns in this film (the Vinklevosses and their friend) were too much.
I know that most critics have given this film four stars. I would give it three or three and a half tops.
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