[archangel_one]

I knew the story of them and Zuckerberg before seeing the film, and I still came out with a negative impression of Z and a more positive one of the Ws (and definitely Eduardo). Yes, they weren't as bright as Z, but I felt like they tried to deal with him in good faith and he just screwed them, Eduardo and anyone else he needed to in order to get to the top.

I did feel like the movie was trying to make me empathise with Z over the others which I didn't really like; at the end when the lawyer tells him that he's not an asshole, I found it artificial because I couldn't see what on earth had led her to that conclusion.

YMMV though, it seems to be quite polarising and you may well be right that it's based on existing perceptions; I didn't sympathise with the Ws in real life, but then I wasn't a huge fan of Z either.