When Facebook first became publicly available to those outside of college and university networks in 2006, it was a much-talkedabout Internet phenomenon. Then in 2009 author Ben Mezrich chronicled the events surrounding the founding of Facebook and the two major lawsuits that plagued its cofounder, Mark Zuckerberg, in his book The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook. A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius and Betrayal. The 2010 film by David Fincher, The Social Network, follows the story of that book and further exposes some of the foundations of everyone's favourite online time-waster.

The movie begins in a bar near Harvard where student Zuckerberg and his then-girlfriend are discussing his desire for inclusion into a prestigious social club when the discussion becomes heated, and leads to Mark ultimately being left single and angry. In an intoxicated rage, Mark hacks into Harvard's online face books, pairs up girls' pictures and with the help of his friend Eduardo Saverin's algorithm creates a website called Face Mash wherein the user votes on which girl is more attractive. Face Mash proves to be the beginning of something big for Mark as he is approached by two fellow Harvard students, the Winklevoss twins, who commission him to build a social networking website exclusive to Harvard that allows students to view their friends' online profiles.

At this point in the evolution of Facebook, Zuckerberg hijacks the idea for himself and begins his own Harvard social network called "The Facebook," citing Eduardo as co-founder on the masthead. When news of The Facebook reaches Napster founder Sean Parker in California, he immediately becomes entrenched in Mark's life and the world of The Facebook, owning roughly four per cent of the company. The two expand Facebook nation-wide and begin turning a profit and con Eduardo out of his company shares. Simultaneously cut into the creation storyline are the two lawsuits facing Mark: one brought on by the Winklevoss brothers for intellectual property theft, the other by Eduardo Saverin for the dilution of his ownership in the company.

The movie has a strong enough cast but with a few missteps. Jesse Eisenberg plays Mark Zuckerberg to self-absorbed perfection, portraying an insecure guy who craves exclusivity and wealth above all else. At Eisenberg's side are Andrew Garfield as Eduardo and Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker. Garfield is strong in Eduardo's role-playing the one true friend of Zuckerberg, who is betrayed. Timberlake gives a painfully mediocre performance as the broke, paranoid and devious Parker. Smaller and equally average roles are filled by Rooney Mara as Erica Albright, the ex-girlfriend who started it all, Joseph Mazello as the fourth Facebook partner Dustin Moskovitz, and Armie Hammer and Josh Pence as the Winklevoss twins.

There is no doubt the story behind Facebook is an intriguing one, and yet the film fails to capture that energy effectively, instead presenting an average movie about a big website.

Rating: 3 out of 5 stars