Great ideas abound. Great ideas that come to fruition are a bit harder to come by. And great ideas that change the face of our culture are rare indeed. No matter what your opinion of Facebook might be (disclaimer: I'm a member and a fan), you cannot argue that the social-networking site has not affected us in some rather profound ways. Scientists are studying its effects on human behavior, and more than one psychologist has identified patients with Facebook compulsions. Chicago outplacement giant Challenger Gray & Christmas reported that Facebook costs American companies $2.3 billion in lost productivity — weekly. While the experts determinine the economic, social, and health costs of keeping close tabs on our social circles, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg sits back and counts his billions. THE SOCIAL NETWORK tells his story. David Fincher's study of the college students who changed the world and then sued each other for the credit begins slowly. We meet Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his friend Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), sophomore roommates at who are learning hard lessons about the culture of entitlement at Harvard. Zuckerberg is a socially-inept genius, most comfortable in front of one of his many computers, more interested in blogging about his life than living it. Saverin is a wealthy, Jewish, half-Brazilian finance major, desperate to please his father. Barely a year into their college careers, they realize that their differences from the iconic "Harvard Gentleman" will probably prevent them from rising through the social ranks of the school. Zuckerberg's only goal seems to be to garner an invitation to one of the very exclusive final clubs that have defined Harvard's social season for over 200 years — a long shot at best.

Zuckerman gains notoriety from a late-night, drunken web assault on his ex-girlfriend that results in a hastily written website that allows students to rank college coeds by their attractiveness. This impresses impossibly tall, impossibly rich, impossibly handsome twins named Winklevoss (Armie Hammer, in a dual role) who want to capitalize on the exclusivity of the "harvard.edu" email address by developing an exclusive, invitation-only website--an online final club, so to speak. Their proposal to Zuckerberg sparks a new, better idea, and in a couple of months, "thefacebook.com" is born, coded and maintained by Zuckerberg and financed by Saverin. As thefacebook.com explodes with success, Zuckerberg finds himself embroiled in legal battles with just about everybody, and sucked into the Silicon Valley subculture. As we know, Facebook survives the legal battles, and continues on to become the Internet juggernaut it is today. Mark Zuckerberg also survives — but are his billions worth the price he pays to make them?

The star of THE SOCIAL NETWORK is not any one of the capable young actors who play the Crimson boy-geniuses. The only amazing component — and it is amazing indeed — is the dialog penned by veteran screenwriter Aaron Sorkin. Sorkin's screenplay manages to capture the idiosyncrasies of the story's characters and weave them into a complicated social network of their own. Working within a framework of flashbacks, he takes that fabric and deconstructs it, one thread at a time, until the viewer can almost hear the characters think. Eisenberg's ability to handle material this complicated is a joy to watch. Director Finch handles Sorkin's screenplay with a competent hand, balancing the technological ignorance of the adults in power over the Harvard students with the superintense focus of young people determined to succeed. Coders, those nuts-and-bolts programmers who figure out how to make ideas come to life online, refer to this focus as being "wired in," and it's their ability to be wired in that allows them to work for days on end, surviving on carry-out and caffeine. Finch uses close-ups and a low camera angle to allow the audience to feel a sort of super-focus as well. We are wired in to Mark Zuckerberg's life.

The ensemble cast includes Rashida Jones as a second-year legal associate, Max Minghella as Winklevoss-partner Divya Narendra, veteran producer Douglas Urbanski as Harvard President Larry Summers. The star of the supporting cast is Justin Timberlake as Sean Parker, the first wunderkind of the 'net who invented the file-sharing service that became Napster. Parker is hip and cool, with a unique understanding of Facebook's target market and the mindset of its members. He knows all too well that his own star has set while he frantically scrambles to find another to ride back to the top. (Parker served as Facebook's first president, but is no longer with the company in any official capacity.)

The original music score by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross, while recognized as one of the film's 8 Oscar category nomination this year, is forgettable which is unfortunate for a film about pop culture phenomena. Special kudos go to the CGI team, who spliced Armie Hammer's head onto Josh Pence's body throughout the film, allowing Hammer to play identical twin brothers. Their work is so seamless as to be unnoticeable, which is exactly how it should be.

With all of this going for it, THE SOCIAL NETWORK lacks something. It's just not as compelling a story as it should be. Perhaps we are not quite far enough away from these events, or far enough away from the Facebook phenomenon itself, to be ready to examine them in a thoughtful way. It is certainly uncomfortable to see Zuckerberg as tragic, unlikeable, and devious while we enjoy the fruits of his labor — and manipulation of his associates and friends — ourselves. Perhaps we secretly wish for less Facebook and more face time. The best films become more than the sum of their parts. THE SOCIAL NETWORK's parts are all very, very good. They just don't add up to special.

Three stars and a "like" for THE SOCIAL NETWORK.

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