The Social Network

By Michael J.W. Stickings

I finally got around to watching The Social Network tonight. It's one of the biggest movies of 2010, at least in terms of critical acclaim, garnering an incredible 95 at Metacritic. It won the Golden Globe for best drama and is basically an awards juggernaut, including for its director, the generally very good David Fincher, who has been nominated for, and will likely win, the Directors Guild's top honour, a sign of things to come at the Oscars. (And I did like a couple of the performances, notably Jesse Eisenberg as Mark Zuckerberg and especially Andrew Garfield as Eduardo Saverin.

And yet, to me, it's an exceptionally boring movie about pretentious, chauvinistic douchebags. I really wanted to like it, and I was even prepared for it to be one of the defining movies of our time, insofar as it explains our time, but, as it wore on, I just didn't give a shit.

No, that's not exactly the most profound review I've ever written, but it's my immediate reaction to a grossly overhyped movie that left me not just cold but uninterested.

And it reminded me why I don't much care for Facebook (even though, like pretty much everyone else, I'm on there).

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(Ed. note: This post has been corrected. It originally stated that Fincher had already won the Directors Guild award. Thanks to Edward C. for the clarification.)