Parents' Guide to

The Social Network

Movie PG-13 2010 121 minutes
The Social Network Poster Image

Common Sense Media Review

Sandie Angulo Chen By Sandie Angulo Chen , based on child development research. How do we rate?

age 15+

Fantastic performances, compelling story for teens and up.

Parents Need to Know

Why Age 15+?

Any Positive Content?

Parent and Kid Reviews

age 14+

Based on 24 parent reviews

age 14+

Phenomenal movie, but I wouldn't recommend for young teens

One of my favorite movies ever made, The Social Network contains a brilliant script, great casting and acting, a great score, and a great pace. It depicts college life in its highs and lows. There's a lot of drinking, actual or implied sexual behavior, and some language. There's one scene that depicts a frat party and another scene that includes implied sex in a bathroom that probably makes this more of a "14 or 15 and up" movie for me but otherwise, I would feel good about a 12 or 13 year old seeing it.
age 13+

Outstanding film has language, sex and heavy drugs

The Social Network is a drama made off of the true story of how Mark Zuckerburg started Facebook, and it’s dark side. It contains mesmerizing performances, but also sex, heavy language and drugs throughout. Here, I’ll be explaining all the mature content in detail: VIOLENCE: None at all, but some violent behavior is shown towards the end where a character angrily grabs another mans laptop and smashes in on a table. LANGUAGE: Despite the PG-13 rating, the film contains use of “f*ck”, “sh*t”, “b*tch”, “d*ck”, “a**hole” and “godd*mm” all throughout. And surprisingly, although the F bomb is restricted from being in a PG-13 film more than once, it is used a couple other times, but never pervasively where it’s frequent. DRUGS/ALCOHOL/TOBACCO USE: All throughout the movie drugs are being shown taken by college students and some younger. At the beginning of the film students are shown at a party taking pills, and getting intoxicated. The scene is also very sexual (see “SEXUAL CONTENT” section). Beer is also drank as people get drunk frequently. At a party, 2 very high girls are shown taking hits from a massive bong, yelling remarks such as “I’m so high!” as a main character of the movie yells “take a hit!”. At the very end of the movie, a man starts a party where the entire house is foggy with smoke. He goes upstairs into a room with a few girls as a girl strips down and lays on a table. Then, cocaine is removed and poured onto her bare chest when the people start sniffing it. The cops then come and yell at her to button up her shirt and get dressed when they find the cocaine and tell the man in the room to empty his pockets. He removes an epi pen, an inhaler and some drugs. All throughout the film, pretty frequently, drugs such as marijuana are shown being used along with cocaine, bongs, pills and more. Mind that the things I described where not the only appearances of drugs, and only about 2/8ths of what is shown. SEXUAL CONTENT: At parties, people make out and unbutton each other suggestively along with dance in them like poles while high. These scenes last a while. Strip clubs are shown where women dance suggestively. A man and a woman bust into a stall in a bathroom and being making out. Then, they unbutton each other and the woman takes off the mans belt when she is shown sticking her head into his crotch area when the camera goes outside the stall and we hear sex sounds and moaning. While this happens another man enters another stall and we see their feet moving. Several suggestive remarks are heard. A website is made to rate girls in a college. Mildly suggestive. A girl removes her shirt and strips down into her bra and panties so that several people can sniff cocaine of her chest, and they do. Her breasts are shown with a bra on them, but they are very loose. A man and a woman wake up nude in the morning. She then walks into the shower and we see the side of her breasts but the camera is unfocused. More content is shown, just milder. MY RATING: R for drug use, sexuality and some language

What's the Story?

In his sophomore year at Harvard, computer-science genius Mark Zuckerberg (Jesse Eisenberg) and his best friend, Eduardo Saverin (Andrew Garfield), create a site ranking their female classmates' hotness. It gets the attention of rich, entrepreneurial seniors Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss (both played by Armie Hammer) and their business partner, who hire Zuckerberg to create a social networking site for Harvard students. But instead of working on the Harvard-only site, Zuckerberg asks Saverin to front him the start-up costs to launch what they call "thefacebook," which starts at Harvard but eventually spreads to other elite universities across the country. After the site hits Stanford, Zuckerberg and Saverin meet Napster co-founder Sean Parker (Justin Timberlake), who ingratiates himself into the founders' circle, usurps Saverin, and helps Zuckerberg get the funds to transform "thefacebook" into Facebook. In the process, Zuckerberg faces lawsuits from his Harvard rivals and his former best friend.

Is It Any Good?

Our review:
Parents say (24 ):
Kids say (123 ):

There was a lot of pre-release hype for THE SOCIAL NETWORK -- and for once, the buzz is well-deserved. This is truly an enthralling film; all of the pieces -- writing, plot, direction, acting, soundtrack -- create a memorable, timely movie that couldn't be more relevant to the current zeitgeist. If a story about a business' Ivy League founders or Harvard social intrigue or young billionaires in the making doesn't sound compelling, this movie will surprise you. And the credit must go to director David Fincher and writer Aaron Sorkin, who've taken what sounds like a very boring premise -- boy genius possibly steals an idea to create one of the dominating media forces of the decade -- and turned it into an award-worthy film that even Facebook objectors will enjoy.

Eisenberg plays Zuckerberg as a socially awkward computer genius who isn't an adorable geek (like many of Eisenberg's previous roles). He's a huge jerk -- or, as his date tells him in the first scene, a first-class "a--hole" -- obsessed with status and, later, getting back at said date for rejecting him. How many multibillion dollar ideas started out as a way to show up someone who rejected the innovator? And how many business are built on the backs of broken friendships? As Saverin, British import Garfield is pitch perfect. He exudes the confidence that comes with wealthy, but unlike Zuckerberg or the Winklevoss twins, he's not condescending. In many ways, he's the heart of the movie, because his character is so much more likable than Zuckerberg -- so much so that you want him to win his lawsuit against Facebook. The movie's biggest scene-stealers are Timberlake -- who's all slimy and paranoid charm as Parker -- and the Winklevoss brothers, who are played by Hammer so well that you'd swear it was twin actors. Each twin is patrician perfection personified, and the fact that their social networking idea is the seed that Zuckerberg turns into Facebook serves as a slap in the face to their entitlement. What's true and what isn't doesn't quite matter for the purposes of this film; in the end Facebook's "status" is bigger than all its players.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

  • Families can talk about Facebook and social networking. How have people's -- especially teens' -- lives changed as a result of Facebook's creation?

  • How accurate do you think the movie is? Why might filmmakers bend the facts (or take liberties in how a person is portrayed) when making a movie based on real life? How could you find out more if you wanted to?

  • What was the cost of Facebook's success for its founders? What is the movie's message about starting a huge enterprise? What does it take? What does it cost to succeed?

  • Does the founder of Facebook seem like a likable guy? Does this drama make you think less or more of him? Which of his many questionable choices makes him look the most unethical?

Movie Details

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