14 DAY TRIAL // The Social Network topped box offices in the US in its opening weekend, raking in $23 million. The movie depicts the, rather fictionalized, early days of Facebook and the drive of Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook's creator, to build a great product without letting anything around him, including friends, stop him.
As a movie, The Social Network seems to have been a great success. It's been getting rave reviews from most critics in the weeks leading to launch.
And now it's obvious that people are flocking over to see a movie that could have been significantly worse made. This has more to do with the people involved with making the movie rather than the subject itself.
Directed by David Fincher and written by Aaron Sorkin, the film benefits from great performances from Jesse Eisenberg, who plays Zuckerberg, and, to many people's surprise, Justin Timberlake who plays Napster founder Sean Fawnning.
But this is not a movie about Facebook, there is very little about the social network itself, despite the name. Instead the movie focuses on Mark Zuckerberg and several pivotal moments in the creation of the site and company.
And, while most of those moments have actually happened, people in the know and the creators themselves are quick to acknowledge that much of the story, the characters and many scenes are fictional or at least a fictionalized version.
Of course, any story based on real life turned into a Hollywood movie is going to have to fill in some gaps and notch up the drama level a little.
But the most jarring misinterpretation seems to be about Mark Zuckerberg, arguably the pillar of the movie. In the movie, Facebook's founder is described as being a jerk just as much as being a genius.
The real-life version is much less talkative than the movie would have you believe, though that would have probably made for a much more boring rendition.
In the end, most people won't really care. It's an entertaining movie and there are signs that it will be a contender at this year's Oscars.
Facebook actually booked two theaters for employees to attend the movie and Zuckerberg himself is said to have went despite saying he has no interest in seeing it, earlier.