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With over 500 million active users per day, Facebook is the second most popular site on the web, trailing Google alone. I think we all know first-hand how popular the social network is, but this movie isn’t about that. David Fincher’s The Social Network tells the story an angry hacker with a genius idea and how Facebook not only came into existence, but also caused him to destroy the only real friendships he had.

The story of how Facebook was born is a long and complicated one. It involves a drunken night of revenge website hacking, a month-and-a-half of intense coding, a friend’s investment, the founder of Napster, all topped off with several law suits. This film covers all of that in a clear, engaging way by eliminating the tedious details and focusing on the relationships of the major players, specifically how Mark Zuckerberg responds to those around him.

The main plot of the movie unfolds by cutting between the events as they occur and the two key depositions following the success of the website. This interplay of the present and the past works surprisingly well as the events themselves are juxtaposed with questions regarding them. This interaction becomes tighter and tighter as the film progresses and proves to be an essential story-telling tool rather than a gimmick. With such a detailed history to explore, avoiding boring exposition is key and at no point in the film is anything forced upon the audience. The entire time, we are taken through this story because we are invested in the characters.

This approach would fall apart if it weren’t for Jesse Eisenberg’s Oscar-worthy performance. Eisenberg embodies the Facebook founder through his mannerisms and way of speaking. He is not a clone of his real life counterpart, but brings a bit of himself into the part, exaggerating his character to elevate him to a sympathetic protagonist that we can love and hate all at the same time. The opening scene, which took 99 takes to shoot, establishes this character as an intellectual, self-absorbed, naïve kid who’s just trying to make a name for himself.

And make a name for himself he did. Not only did he create the most successful social network on the internet and become the 35th-wealthiest person on the planet in a tiny six years, he also gained a reputation for being an ignorant jerk who couldn’t care less about the people around him. Although much of this was well-deserved, the truth is definitely more complicated and the film does not shy away from this key point.

The entire film is expertly crafted. Fortunately, Fincher shies away here from any crazy effects (save for one baffling scene) and instead composes every shot beautifully. The supporting cast is superb, and I wouldn’t be surprised by a Best Supporting Actor nomination for Andrew Garfield in addition to Eisenberg for Best Actor. The movie is actually really funny as well, and will please both people who just want to see “Facebook: The Movie” and any film lover, even if they couldn’t use Facebook if they wanted to. Still, the film is all about the story. Sorkin’s dialogue is superb, getting across the main points of the film without boring or confusing the audience. His approach highlights the universal themes present in the tale rather than focusing on Facebook itself. It would have been simple to cash in on Facebook’s popularity and put out a dull, predictable “Facebook Movie” but that is exactly what this film isn’t, and also what makes it great. It is entertaining, well-made, and emotionally deep, even if it doesn’t seem that way in the middle.

As in any good film, both the opening and closing are vital to this movie’s emotional impact. After beginning with a long dialogue scene between Zuckerberg and his girlfriend that establishes his primary motivations, the film ends as he must come to terms with his relationship with her. The final shot echoes the isolation that this poor man has dug himself into. Although many will probably leave the film hating Mark Zuckerberg, I view him as a very sympathetic character. He did completely betray some of his closest friends and behave in a very unethical way for most of his career at Facebook, but the film really shows that he does, in fact, have a heart like the rest of us that can be broken rather too easily.

With The Social Network, David Fincher shows his extreme talent for direction once again by getting the most out of all his actors in a challenging, fantastic script by Aaron Sorkin. The film chronicles a real event in an honest and open way and avoids attacking anyone outright, but rather plays as an intriguing character study of one of our time’s most influential figures.

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