Review of The Social Network (2010) by Bex — 05 Oct 2010

Had The Social Network been about something more relevant, say, the anomie engendered by the digital era, it might have warranted its brow-raising critical acclaim. But instead the film tells the rather less interesting but more sensational story of elitist, entitled children squabbling over power and money.

That this unredeeming tale of supersized greed is compelling is a testament to Sorkin's barrage of clever dialogue, so fast-paced that one scarcely has time to reflect on the fact that one is watching a paean to latter-day robber barons.

The film's self-conscious the-geek-shall-inherit-the-earth message is as close as it ever gets to a penetrating social observation, but there's plenty of soap opera serving as a stand-in. Gorgeous groupies and rock-star recklessness are thrown in to distract the viewer, and unfortunately the filmmakers as well, from the fact that there is no there there. The cultural landscape has been forever changed by the economic meltdown of 2008. The very idea that one could make a movie about the most successful entrepreneurs of our time, and not even acknowledge this change is curious, and raises the suspicion that both Sorkin and Fincher are personally invested in the "classless society" myth. That disconnect is the fatal crack in the shiny veneer of this work, and suggests to me for the first time, that Sorkin may have passed his sell-by date.