10 Subplots That Saved Entire Movies
2. Mark And Erika - The Social Network
The Social Network - the last film by Aaron Sorkin that can be described as being actually good without wanting to grind your teeth to dust - portrays its central character, Mark Zuckerberg, as an arrogant, weaselly, insecure little scumbag who stabbed everyone in the back on his way to the top. Definitely an accurate statement to make about the tech mogul, especially in retrospect, but the film went a step forward in its brutal portrayal of Zuckerberg by showing the pathetic source behind all his decisions.
A girl dumped him.
We start the film on the breakup, with Erika giving Mark one of the greatest burns in cinema history and easily one of the best monologues Sorkin has ever written. And in any other biopic, that would be the end of it, but Sorkin - actually having something to say about Zuckerberg - has Erika pop up multiple times throughout the movie. And even when she isn't around, Zuckerberg cannot get her out of his mind, and the emasculation to his precious little ego the breakup gave him is the driving force behind every decision he makes throughout the entire film.
If the film left the breakup where it was, or didn't even bring it up at all, it would be yet another boring biopic movie with some kinda interesting courtroom drama stuff. But including it elevated The Social Network into a brutal character piece on one of tech's most infamous figures.