So when I went and saw Inception this weekend, I saw the trailer for the movie that I had been waiting for a long time– The Accidental Billionaires: The Founding of Facebook – A Tale of Sex, Money, Genius, and Betrayal. Of course it’s not called that. Instead it’s weakly titled “The Social Network.” The trailer was good in terms of the film being pretty faithful to Ben Mezrich’s novel, but I couldn’t help but hate the face of the genius/ big brother wannabe Mark Zuckerberg. Check out the main cast below.
Two gripes.
1. I fucking hate the kid playing Mark Zuckerberg. Everything about him is so stocked. He’s the second-rate Michael Cera. Meant to be cast as a nerd/ outcast… His voice is annoying– almost everything he says seems to be punctuated by a tone that’s either meant to be self-deprecating, awkward, or condescending. He sucks. He was even lame in his one decent movie, Zombieland. The perfect solution would’ve been to either switch the roles between Jesse Eisenberg and Justin Timberlake or get another actor that can act better and that looks more like Zuckerberg to play Zuckerberg. I wouldn’t have mind seeing Timberlake play Zuckerberg. A starring role for a movie like this could’ve been the ideal make or break film for him. But of course since that would mean having a pop star portraying an eccentric, so the skepticism is understandable. Which then makes me wish they casted legit drama actor/ Friday Night Lights veteran, Zach Gilford. Gilford’s got the acting chops and the Zuckerberg look. It’s unfortunate Fincher missed that one.
Zach Gilford (A Better Fit for Mark Zuckerberg)
2. The title sucks. Why couldn’t they use some of the title from the book? To title the movie about the founding of facebook “The Social Network” is such a cop-out. It even sounds like a lazy idea for this story. The book they’re adapting already had it for them. Reactions to the trailer for “The Social Network” have already been mixed; the obvious being along the lines of “oh god, a facebook movie” or “really? they’re making a movie about that?” Which is disappointing since the book and the movie tell a pretty compelling story of entrepreneurship at a young age that could’ve attracted the Mezrich fans and the morons on facebook. Having the movie titled “The Accidental Billionaires” would’ve definitely sounded cooler and more intriguing.
I’m still planning on catching this movie, but I just wish it was done better in the easily fixable parts. Cool poster though…