The Social Network

I'd been trying to see the movie when it was playing at theaters in India, but could not see it because the wife and I could not take our little quiet-loving daughter to a movie hall. I thought I had missed the bus on this movie despite all the rave reviews etc. And then, I finally got to watch it in the strangest and most unexpected of places - on a domestic Jet Airways flight! (Interesting aside: I could watch the movie only because I was seated in the economy section. Apparently, the business section had some issue whereby the in-flight entertainment section starts late and ends early - I would not have been able to watch the entire film at one go)

I thought the film was absolutely fantastic - the sparkling dialogue, the brilliance of the lead actor and the chutzpah of the film make it a must watch. What I liked very much was the idea of Mark Zuckerberg (and I'm sure it is nowhere like this in real life) - a guy who is in-your-face, unapologetic about being smarter than you, and says it like it is. A guy who is excellent at what he does, has searing ambitions and the wherewithal to make things work! The best part about the movie was that it filled me with an infectious optimism and a sense of how small beginnings can lead to great things!

I don't understand what all the pre-release controversy was about, though. At no point did I feel that the movie set out to make a villain out of the guy - I thought he was fair and center the hero of the movie. He gets a very sympathetic treatment from the script and from the viewer too.

The best line in the movie: "It's as simple as this: if you had invented Facebook, you'd have invented Facebook"