Call me a rube, boob, or any synonym for cinematically simplistic, but I love me some Aaron Sorkin. I was weaned on The West Wing. I devoured A Few Good Men at an impressionable age. I will still defend The Newsroom without hesitation. I am, if nothing else, a big-time crazy stupid sucker for words, and Sorkin tries his best in each project to use all of them at least once. Between that and coming into full adulthood at the birth of Facebook, I cannot think of someone better positioned to enjoy The Social Reckoning.
I found it to be just okay at best. I shudder to think what that means for most movie lovers.
The Social Network is a masterpiece. It was directed by David Fincher. It had a score by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. The Social Reckoning was not directed by David Fincher. It does not have a score by Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. It turns out those things were remarkably important. Perhaps more important is that the first film ended by pointing at Facebook and saying “Uh oh!” whereas the second film throws a fist in the air and seemingly declares the problem solved, fixed by facts and Americans’ love for them.
Said facts are shared in the movie by Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), the real-life whistleblower who exposed Facebook’s penchant for pushing patrons towards hate groups, commoditizing ragebait, facilitating drug and human trafficking, undermining democracies, and ruining everyone’s mental health. She shares these facts with Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White), who is the most newspapery newsman to ever news, man. His series of stories revealed the ugly inner workings of the social platform, much to the robotic chagrin of Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong).
And that’s how Facebook was laid low, going from a market capitalization of $320 billion in 2022 to…only $1.85 trillion now. Got em!
Therein lies the biggest problem with The Social Reckoning. From its title to its resolution, it approaches the events of the film as a linear story in which the good guys have won by finding and telling the truth. Nobody cares. That’s the reality. The reality is that nobody cares. Facebook, now Meta, was not hurt. This, despite text on the screen at the conclusion that literally and explicitly says that it was. This ruins whatever goodwill the movie had generated by virtue of the fact that it fundamentally misunderstands the moment we are in.
Much like Steven Spielberg’s Disclosure Day, The Social Reckoning simply does not understand that the truth has died an undignified death and is buried in a shallow grave. In theory, Sorkin could have used this cinematic platform, as limited as its new reach may be, to dig up the truth and hold its corpse in front of audiences, screaming “Why do you not care about this?!” Instead, it suggests victory in the face of what is soul-crushing failure.
Worse still, with the intrusion of AI looming, Congress’s failure to treat any of the malicious plagues with which tech bros have infected America carries even more dire, potentially apocalyptic, consequences. The Social Reckoning could have been a pointed condemnation of both the public’s failure to care about the revelation of Facebook’s evils and a look forward to what that portends. It should not have been a victory lap that absolves the general public. Our collective illiteracy was hastened by megacorporations, to be sure. But the onus is on us to fix it.
Setting aside the failure of purpose, The Social Reckoning hums along at times, especially for those of us who can still recognize and like actual facts and who believe journalism is both crucial and currently on life support. The problem is that, even when the script is clicking, its performers aren’t.
White and Madison are both mumble-talking mushmouths, which is not ideal for Sorkin’s maximum-words-per-screentime approach. Both also offer incredibly shallow characters, with throwaway quirks standing in for actual personalities. Contrast that with Betty Gilpin, Wunmi Mosaku, or Bill Burr, who pop as fully three-dimensional in itty-bitty parts.
Strong is a whole separate…thing. I detest method acting with every fiber of my being, but his performance here actually works. Perhaps unintentionally or fully despite himself, but Strong turns Zuckerberg into a goofy, laughable cartoon. Great points are made about how he and other billionaires are terrified of a public uprising and buy bulletproof couches to hide behind. That said, the biggest weapon we have is actually the nonviolent practice of mocking and satirizing these fragile babymen who are constantly scraping the inside of every added 0 in their net worth for happiness and contentment they will never find. Strong’s performance will absolutely outrage Zuck. So, points there.
More points would be given for a film interested in outraging its audience and holding them to account. When footage of the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol played out alongside Facebook’s implicit facilitation of the events, I got big mad. But the film stops short of inviting that reaction. Instead, it plants its foot and hard pivots to an unearned resolution that suggests Haugen’s whistleblowing achieved something.
I am glad and grateful that a brave woman torched her career to educate us on the evil corrupting our country. I am furious nothing came of it. And now, even in this fictionalized retelling, we are being invited to just move along and brace for what’s next. Victory?
Grade = C-
Other Critical Voices to Consider
Kristy Puchko at Mashable says “In the end, The Social Reckoning feels like a finger-wagging lecture. Perhaps Sorkin means to spice it up with Golden Age Hollywood banter, a portrait of Zuckerberg as a dead-eyed ghoul, and a slathering of sex appeal from the female cast. But Sorkin’s dusty devices, problematic archetypes, and cringeworthy dialogue make the film feel instantly dated.”
Sarah Gopaul from Imagery at the Movies says “The heroic buildup of David taking on Goliath is moot if you already know the giant wins. It’s a thoughtful shoutout to the people who tried to expose the company’s corruption, but that’s it. There’s no path forward to a better world. Delete your accounts or keep using social media at your own risk.”
Sreeju Sudhakaran at Rediff says “There is some sermonising and moral posturing that great movies usually avoid. Yet, there is no denying that The Social Reckoning is an important film. It deserves a watch in the hope that it shakes the more complacent among us into seeing things from a better perspective.”