In The Social Network Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg, the brilliant but socially inept Harvard student, who started Facebook in 2004 as a way to meet girls.

It wasn’t completely his idea and much of the film is taken up with him being sued by various people, including his best friend who financed the start-up. They all wanted, and probably deserved, a share of the millions his social site produced.

You can only wonder how true to the facts this film is. Apparently the real Zuckerberg, the world’s youngest billionaire and still only 26, had nothing to do with the film. He comes across as a workaholic, who’d rather be on his computer than party, and except for a desire to have a girlfriend, is a person out of time. He doesn’t seem to be interested in the money. Eisenberg plays him with a believable mixture of ruthlessness and innocence. Justin Timberlake plays Napster inventor Sean Parker.

This is a movie about the American dream; finding that idea that everyone wants or uses and makes the inventor rich beyond his wildest dreams. However, what often happens is the success and money don’t mean much. We, the audience, admire them for their success, and envy their wealth, but wonder about their loneliness and the price paid for that success.

This is also, after all, a film about computer programming, but director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin (The West Wing) make it enjoyable as well as fascinating.

Rating: four deer of five

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Splice has its moments, but it helps if you have a strong stomach.

Alf Cryderman is a Red Deer freelance writer and old movie buff.