Usually movies that are rated well and have had good word of mouth disappoint since expectations are elevated. The Social Network was one of these well received and anticipated movies that I finally got around to seeing last week.  I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised that The Social Network was a compelling and engaging film. A few things stuck out after watching the movie to me:

• It’s amazing that Facebook only started in 2004. I remember when I first got invited to sign up from a old college friend and there was very little activity since it was still a closed network to only those with college e-mail addresses. In 6 short years, Facebook has transformed life and society as we know it. There isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t check my Facebook account to see what’s going on.
• I loved it when the movie used technical terms that I actually understood, showed images of the Facebook reaching member milestones, and evangelized the idea of dreaming big. It reminded me a lot of the days when I worked at a start-up in Silicon Valley.
• Who knew there was so much behind the scenes tension and lawsuits revolving the founding of Facebook? Facebook’s PR team has done a great job (prior to the movie) of sweeping the issues under the proverbial rug.
• I didn’t think that Justin Timberlake looked like the founder of Napster. The reason being that I thought there was only one founder, confusing Sean Parker with Shawn Fanning.
• The parties that I went to at Cornell were nothing like the parties shown in the movie.
• David Fincher is a really good director. Here’s someone who can bring us movies from Se7en to The Game to Fight Club to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. That’s some range!

All in all, the movie was fantastic and highly recommendated. It definitely lived up the hype and I give it two thumbs up!