It is estimated that there are more than 500 million members on Facebook, the world’s largest social networking site, but David Fincher’s impeccably crafted “The Social Network” is primarily about one member – the first – a certain Mark Zuckerberg. Fincher’s film, brilliantly adapted by Aaron Sorkin from Ben Mezrich’s book “The Accidental Billionaires” isn’t really about the site but about how a couple of socially awkward Harvard undergraduates created the web sensation almost by accident and eventually how greed, betrayal, jealousy and money corrupted and destroyed their friendships. It’s been ten days since I watched this intelligent and captivating drama and I still can’t get it out of my head. It’s still only the first week of October but I doubt there’ll be any movie as good this year. Yes, this is hands-down, the best film I’ve seen in 2010.

It’s the fall of 2003 and Harvard computer engineering undergraduate Mark Zuckerberg is sitting alone, beer in hand, in the middle of a crowded college bar in Boston. He’s the mascot of loneliness. He’s just been dumped by his girlfriend Erika (Rooney Mara) for being a self-absorbed and smug asshole. But instead of wallowing in misery like the most of us, Mark goes back to his dorm, gets drunk and ends up creates Facemash, a site that eventually paves the way for what will become the most lucrative networking tool of the 21st century, eventually making him the world’s youngest billionaire.  But was he alone in creating this phenomenon or did he steal the idea from others?

This is the crux of the drama and mystery of “The Social Network” as Sorkin’s script flashes back between the early days of the site and the legal depositions set a few years later where Zuckerberg is being sued by twins Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (Armie Hammer) and their business partner Divya Narendra (Max Minghella) who allege that Zuckerberg stole the idea of Facebook from them. Also suing Mark is Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), Mark’s one-time best friend and co-founder of the site who alleges that Mark swindled him out of his share over greed and jealousy. It’s through these depositions and three points of view that Sorkin and Fincher are able to paint a portrait of Zuckerberg. Whether it’s a good or a bad one is left entirely up to the audience to decide. Did he steal the idea or was he a genius who saw potential in a silly idea and built it into something incredible that he could call his own?

When Sony Pictures had announced last summer that David Fincher would be following up his Oscar-nominated “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” with a movie about the origins of Facebook, many film fans were perplexed. I mean, what potential could there possibly be in a movie about Facebook? Apparently a lot if Aaron Sorkin is writing your movie! With “The Social Network,” Sorkin, who also wrote “A Few Good Men” and created the Emmy-winning television series “The West Wing”, has created his magnum opus. His cerebral but wildly entertaining and zippy script is brimmed with rapid-fire exchanges, incredible one-liners and one masterful sequence after another. Scenes like the opening break-up sequence that sets the whole film in motion, an intense deposition scene where Mark insults a lawyer or the brilliant night club sequence where slimy entrepreneur Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), the film’s primary antagonistic character, hypnotizes and charms Mark on the global potential of Facebook are some of the year’s best-written scenes. While Fincher doesn’t get to show off his signature visual style as much, his fingerprints are all over the movie. He’s able to capture the mood and setting of college life and Generation Y like no mainstream picture has done so far. Like all of his previous works, “The Social Network” is dimly lit and tackles themes of obsession, loneliness, brotherhood and betrayal.

Jesse Eisenberg, who has made a name for himself in smart indie coming-of-age dramas, is a revelation as Mark. With this role, Eisenberg proves once and for all that he’s twice the actor that Michael Cera, the actor he’s most often compared to, will ever be. The young actor displays a range here that I never thought he had in him. His Mark is a cold, calculating genius who always thinks of himself as the smartest guy in the room. He might be but that doesn’t mean he has to rub it in.  Garfield, who was recently cast as Peter Parker in the upcoming “Spider-Man” reboot, is also fantastic as the betrayed Saverin. Since Saverin was one of the only people interviewed in Mezrich’s book, he’s naturally the film’s most sympathetic character but credit to Garfield for a superb performance. The film’s other standout is Justin Timberlake – yes, Justin “N’Sync” Timberlake – oozing charisma (and slime) as Napster co-founder Sean Parker who weasels his way into the company.

Finally, I have to mention Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ dazzling synth score. It’s one of the year’s most haunting soundtracks. It’s on par with Johnny Greenwood’s already classic score for Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will be Blood.”

BOTTOM LINE:  “The Social Network” is more or less, a flawless film. High praise I know but after a first watch and scrutinizing the film for days, I simply cannot find any fault with it. This is a powerful story brilliantly told through a sensational script by Aaron Sorkin that’s excellently directed by the always reliable David Fincher and terrifically acted by a supremely talented young cast. Add in a sure-to-be-classic score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross and ace production values and you have one of the best mainstream dramas to come out of Hollywood in the last couple of years.

GRADE: A

THE SOCIAL NETWORK

Directed by: David Fincher

Written by: Aaron Sorkin

Starring: Jesse Eisenberg, Andrew Garfield, Justin Timberlake, Armie Hammer, Rooney Mara

Rated: PG-13 (for sexual content, drug and alcohol use and language.)