If there is one thing that a curmudgeon doesn’t get, it’s “cool.”  And there is nothing other than “cool” that distinguishes the online winner from everything else.  For an admitted dilettante, The Social Network shows on the screen what we could never see on our own.

This movie is spectacular in every respect.  The story, the acting, the understanding of geek cool combined with human nature and frailty.  And, as if to make this curmudgeon smile, a narrative wrapped up in depositions for the two lawsuits against core founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg.  It’s like an island for old men in a sea of youthful geekiness.

Jesse Eisenberg stars as Zuckerberg, and never falters in the performance. He plays the computer geek with poignant awkwardness and distraction, all while wearing those ridiculous looking Adidas sandals, even in the snow.  You can feel his focus, the hero-worshipping adoration of Napster founder (and loser) Sean Parker, played by former teeny-bopper idol Justin Timberlake, who not only gives an incredible performance but has matured into an actor who will be a force for many years to come.

Watching the story unfold taught me how, in an age that gives real meaning to overnight success, an idea with no greater merit than “it’s fun,” influenced to some greater or lesser extent by a bit of elitism, can produce a monster success or worthless triviality. 

In contrast to Zuckerberg’s geek was the old-guard money and jock Ivy elitism of the Winklevi (don’t ask, the movie will explain this) whose lame idea to get chicks and limited grasp gave rise to their suing Zuckerberg.  So too did Eduardo Saverin, except he was indeed a co-founder, as well as Zuckerberg’s best friend, who was unceremoniously ousted after Napster failure Parker caught hold of the intersection between geek and playboy.  Saverin, who stood by Zuckerberg when no one else could stand to be near him, bore the brunt of the crash.

Even the lawyering scenes, which were nothing more than a means of telling the story, were fun.  Zuckerberg’s snarky comments and answers during depositions were hysterically funny, particularly after the question of whether Saverin’s investment in the enterprise, consisting of $1,000 and $18,000, amounted to $19,000.  Zuckerberg interrupts, saying let me verify that. After a few scribbles, he announces that he comes up with the same number.  He reduces some of our more mind-numbing affectations to some well-deserved laughs, though be careful about the effect this will have on youth looking for yet another excuse to make fun of us.  Just because we may deserve it doesn’t mean we have to like it.

It was my misfortune that neither Klout nor the studio sought out my review of this movie, as I had to both buy tickets and pay for my own popcorn (which, I might add, was not stale this time).  But it was well worth it.  This was the best movie I’ve seen in a very long time, not only for its entertainment value, but for its ability to make a codger like me see and feel what went on in the mind of a kid who is younger than my favorite pair of shoes.

Recognizing the inexplicable impact my reviews have on media (noting that I was the only one to pan the Fox TV show Lone Star, which was canceled after the showing of a mere two episodes, while all the real TV critics hailed it as the greatest thing since Family Guy), this movie is worth both the time to see it as well as the ridiculous prices they charge these days for mediocre surround sound at the multiplex. 

See this movie.  See it now.  Expect at least three Academy Award nominations out of it, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actor, Best Screenplay.  This movie is that good.