I saw “The Social Network” over the weekend, and odds are that you did too: a $23 million weekend opening. Even Facebook creator Mark Zuckerberg was reported to have snuck in a screening, despite swearing that he’d stay far away from the thing. He obviously saw the 97 rating on metacritic.com and just gave up.

So what did I like about it? Plenty, plenty, plenty.

DIALOGUE: It’s been a long, long time since I’ve seen such top-notch words tumbling forth from the screen. If screenwriter Aaron Sorkin doesn’t win a damn award, I’m deleting my Facebook account. A deluge of dialogue assaults the ears, with no chance of catching a break. It’s a cinema racquetball match, your own thoughts dumped to the curb for tomorrow’s garbage pickup. Oh, the rhythm! There were times I caught myself laughing a full two seconds after a joke, simply because my ape brain needed time to sort it out.

NERD TALK: I had concerns that techy jargon would get buried (or at least simplified) in fine Hollywood tradition. Instead, director David Fincher toed the line nicely by thrusting it right up front, cramming one early flashback chock full of wget commands, php references, and apache mentions into the first 15 minutes. Quick editing kept the scene from becoming dull, with rapid switching between the mahogany glitz of Harvard’s social parties and the birth of Facebook in Zuckerberg’s dorm room. Beer in hand, of course.

JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE: No hint of N*Sync, but Timberlake plays a great villain as Napster co-founder Sean Parker. With a penchant for young girls and cocaine, he’s fun to hate.

MUSIC: The soundtrack (save the Beatles track leading us to the credits – I won’t say which one) is composed by Nine Inch Nails frontman Trent Reznor and his long-time collaborator Atticus Ross. It reminds me a lot of the upside-down classical effort that Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood wrote for “There Will Be Blood.” Instrumental dissonance, with occasional moments where the music demands your full attention. I’m grateful they didn’t pepper the flick with indie hits.

There’s much to consider in this loose adaptation of the Facebook story. Where’s the line between fact and fiction? How quickly can ambition turn rotten? Thankfully, the often reckless Zuckerberg has built an empire 500 million strong, each ready to enact judgment through that tiny box that asks: “What’s on your mind?”

Further reading:

• Film version of Zuckerberg divides the generations
• The New Yorker profile on Zuckerberg
• Vanity Fair profile on Parker
• Zuckerberg on ‘The Simpsons’