20 Things You Somehow Missed In The Social Network

Tyler Durden makes a "cameo."

The Social Network
Columbia Pictures

The Social Network is arguably one of the greatest movies of the last 10 years, a near-miraculous triumph for director David Fincher, writer Aaron Sorkin, and an exceptional ensemble cast.

That it didn't win both Best Picture and Best Director Oscars is sure to be one of the Academy's great shames moving forward - no offense to the very good The King's Speech - though that has done little to diminish its enduring legacy as a masterpiece.

Yet no matter how many times you've soaked in Fincher's deeply absorbing depiction of the creation of Facebook, it's such a detail-dense film that there's a ton of subtleties, Easter eggs, gags, and even the occasional mistake you won't have picked up on.

These fantastic, easily missed details only deepen the movie's monumental level of filmmaking craft, and yes, even the mistakes are fascinating in their own way.

As so many tech-centric films begin to show their age within just a few years, The Social Network's engrossing human focus and continued societal relevance make it a movie sure to stand the test of time as the decades pass...

20. Fallout 3 Is In The Movie (But Wasn't Released Until 2008)

The Social Network
Sony Pictures Releasing

As much as David Fincher has a sure eye for detail, even he wasn't able to prevent a few factual errors slipping through the cracks, largely pertaining to things appearing in the movie which didn't actually exist in 2003.

Any gamers watching should keep their eyes peeled for a blatant mistake during the early Facemash montage sequence, where a Harvard student can be briefly seen playing the video game Fallout 3.

Except, as even a fairly casual gamer would know, Fallout 3 wasn't released until five years later in 2008.

Elsewhere there are other noticeable anachronisms, such as Dennis de Laat's 2008 song "The Sound Of Violence" being played during the main nightclub scene, while the "@harvard.edu" e-mail address Mark (Jesse Eisenberg) uses wasn't actually instituted until a few years later - in 2003 it was actually "@fas.harvard.edu."

Nitpicks? Perhaps, but such are the issues involved in making any period movie, especially one set in such relatively recent times.

Contributor
Contributor

Stay at home dad who spends as much time teaching his kids the merits of Martin Scorsese as possible (against the missus' wishes). General video game, TV and film nut. Occasional sports fan. Full time loon.