Muriel Award: Best Ensemble

Some categories, the voting is close and you understand why. Others, it isn't. And you still understand why. Guess which today's is.

Third place:



Carlos [70 points / 11 votes]

Second place:



True Grit [111/18]

And your winner...





The Social Network [165/25]

"So much has already been written about The Social Network — probably too much, given that the majority of the discourse has drowned out any chance the movie ever had to speak for itself. More than any stabs at capturing the zeitgeist or exposing How We Live Now, The Social Network is really just grand entertainment, a brilliantly crafted and fleet drama about ambition, power, betrayal, and the dark side of success — the classics. I’ve no doubt you’ll be reading quite a bit over the next week about how the film' various technical aspects contribute to the film’s success, and there’s no doubt that they do. I’m here to talk about the cast.

You want to judge an ensemble, look to the support. If The Social Network is about any one thing, it’s about social standing as commodity; how it’s traded, how it’s sought, how some people are born into it. So among others, we have Rooney Mara - great-granddaughter of the founders of the New York Giants and the Pittsburgh Steelers - as Mark Zuckerberg’s (Jesse Eisenberg) ex-girlfriend; Armie Hammer — great-grandson of oil tycoon Armand Hammer — as the twins from whom Zuckerberg allegedly stole his billion-dollar idea; and Justin Timberlake — you know him — as Sean Parker, the high-school dropout who brought down the record industry.

Stunt casting? Not when the performances are this good. Mara, in her few short scenes, is the closest The Social Network comes to a moral center, exuding warmth, wit, and strength while single-handedly putting the lie to claims of the film’s misogyny. Timberlake’s choices evidence an energetic, inventive performer, capturing both Parker’s brash charisma and insecurity. And Hammer is a hoot; make a list of the year’s best line readings, and at least half would belong to him.

That’s not to mention Eisenberg, in the performance of the year, capturing a lifetime of resentment and self-imposed loneliness with every dismissive put-down and birdlike head-twitch. He’s a movie anti-hero for the ages, a complicated tangle of infuriating/pathetic/sympathetic impulses. Then there’s Andrew Garfield, putting his baby-giraffe awkwardness to particularly funny, empathetic use as the movie’s sort-of victim.

There’s pure joy in watching these actors (along with the many terrific others in small parts) interact, playing with Aaron Sorkin's ping-pong dialogue without losing the human beings underneath. It’s the kind of ensemble work rarely seen in movies since Hollywood’s Golden Age. And zeitgeist or no, it will never go out of style." - Matt Noller

See the full results.