The Social Network reminded me of another classic send up of contemporary business history: Barbarians at the Gate. Barbarians is the story of late 1980s corporate excess centered on the leveraged buyout of RJR Nabisco by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts. James Garner, Fred Thompson and Jonathan Pryce star as the duelling CEOs bouncing between corporate jets, boardrooms and must-be-seen-at charity galas with their egos and trophy wives. Barbarians at the Gate was originally broadcast on HBO and is available from Netflix.
The Social Network
The Social Network
The best and most entertaining movie of the Fall tells the birth story of Facebook, and may win Oscars for director David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac) and screenwriter Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War). It’s a riveting tale of college sophomores that are brilliant, ambitious, immature, self-absorbed and disloyal – and about to become zillionaires.
Let’s reflect on Sorkin’s challenge here; he is writing a screenplay about nerdy guys writing computer code and making it fast-paced, understandable, funny and even gripping. To compound his challenge, all of the main characters but one are extremely obnoxious, yet he makes us care about what happens to them.
Yet the most compelling aspect of the film is Jesse Eisenberg’s performance as Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg. Eisenberg’s Zuckerman has few social skills, less social aptitude and exactly one friend, yet creates a framework for other people to share scores and even hundreds of “friends”. Eisenberg carries the film with an especially intense performance of an emotionally remote character. Eisenberg has been underrated despite strong performances in Adventureland, Zombieland and Solitary Man. Here, it is impossible to think of another actor who could so vividly create this Zuckerman.
This is a uniformly well-acted movie. Justin Timberlake is terrific as Napster infant terrible Sean Parker. Armie Hammer is outstanding as both of the Winklevoss twins, the entitled, preppie wunderkinden. Rooney Mara nails her scenes as Zuckerberg’s soon-to-be ex-girlfriend. Douglas Urbanski (usually a producer) does a viciously hilarious impersonation of former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers.
One more thing: Fincher and Sorkin know how to end a movie.
New Movies I'm Looking Forward To
I’ve just updated Movies I’m Looking Forward To. We’ve got Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, It’s Kind of a Funny Story, Howl, The Social Network and You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger all coming out in the next two weeks. Here are some new entries:
You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger: Woody Allen’s latest comedy about romantic entanglements and human self-delusion. Stars Naomi Watts, Anthony Hopkins, Antonio Banderas and Josh Brolin. Releases October 1.
Tamara Drewe: Steven Frears (The Queen, The Snapper, Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity) brings us a sex comedy. A writer’s colony in the English countryside is disrupted when a local woman returns with a nose job that has made her into an irresistible hottie. She enjoys being irresistible. Releases October 8.
Leaves of Grass: A college professor is tricked into returning to Oklahoma by his pot-dealing identical twin brother. Hilarity ensues. Edward Norton plays both twins. Strong supporting cast with Susan Sarandon, Richard Dreyfuss and Tim Blake Nelson. Rolling out slowly across the country.
Tabloid: A reputedly very funny Errol Morris (The Thin Blue Line, Mr. Death, Gates of Heaven) documentary tracing the story of a woman who had her dead dog cloned; it turns out that, years before, she was accused of manacling a Mormon missionary as her sex slave. Debuted at Telluride; wide release not yet scheduled.
For trailers, go to Movies I’m Looking Forward To.
Hollywood's Lisbeth Salander
Well, here’s a surprise. In David Fincher’s upcoming film versions of the Stieg Larsson novels, Lisbeth Salander will be played by…Rooney Mara. 25-year-old Rooney Mara, sister of Kate, will play in Fincher’s The Social Network this October, so he must know something. She also has a few credits in TV guest slots, plus a Nightmare on Elm Street movie. She was also in Youth in Revolt, a nice little movie that I saw in January, but I have no memory of Rooney in it.
The entire success of the film trilogy depends on the portrayal of Lisbeth Salander. Is Rooney Mara a good choice? Right now, I’ll withhold judgement. It’s important to realize that Noomi Rapace, the actress who has so convincingly played Lisbeth in the Swedish versions, is not naturally a psycho hard ass – she undertook lots of preparation for the role, including six months of kick boxing AND a special diet AND the body piercings to harden herself for the role.
The Social Network: new trailer
Here’s the new trailer for The Social Network about the founding of Facebook. It’s promising because it’s written by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, Charlie Wilson’s War) and directed by David Fincher (Fight Club, Zodiac). The underrated Jesse Eisenberg (Adventureland, Zombieland, Solitary Man) stars as head geek. Releases October 1.