* THE SOCIAL NETWORK

The Social Network is based on Ben Mezrich's book The Accidental Billionaires, and it plays up the lurid history of Facebook for all it's worth. The appeal of scandalous gossip about the unimaginably wealthy is not enough on its own to keep the viewer interested through the entire two-hour running time. Jeff Cronenweth's buttery cinematography definitely helps. But this is an actor's game. When David Fincher has a good script, he is unstoppable at getting great performances out of his players. Thankfully, Fincher doesn't seem to have a Big Message. There's blessedly little moralizing about the internet or the internet generation. Sure, Sorkin's script tries to give Zuckerberg a too-pat character arc, but he can be forgiven for that; his script, after all, has to prematurely end a story that's still unfolding on computer screens around the world. But as a rags-to-riches story about a man who may or may not be an asshole, The Social Network takes us on one hell of a ride. (PAUL CONSTANT)