Josh Reviews The Social Reckoning
The Social Reckoning, written & directed by Aaron Sorkin, is the follow-up I never expected to see to 2010’s The Social Network (which was written by Mr. Sorkin & directed by David Fincher). Whereas The Social Network told the story of the origins of Facebook in 2003-05, this new film is set between 2019-2021, and explores Facebook employee Frances Haugen’s decision to become a whistleblower and leak internal documents that revealed that Facebook was aware of the harmful effect of its platforms, and yet persisted in favoring profits over taking action to curb those harmful effects.
I’m a huge Aaron Sorkin fan. I think The West Wing is one of the great TV shows of all time, and the short-lived Sports Night is pretty high up there as well. Mr. Sorkin is an accomplished playwright, and he has written some of my all-time favorite films (A Few Good Men, An American President) and a number of other bangers (Moneyball, Charlie Wilson’s War, Steve Jobs). Recently, Mr. Sorkin has been directing his own screenplays; we’ve gotten one masterpiece (The Trial of the Chicago 7) and several other solidly entertaining (if unspectacular) films (Molly’s Game, Being the Ricardos).
Let’s be clear from the start: The Social Reckoning does not come close to the fantastic quality of The Social Network. That film was a magical concoction; a writer and a director at the top of their games, an incredible and important true story, and a spectacular cast. Heck, even the score (by Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross) was amazing!!
The Social Reckoning is a great film and I truly enjoyed it, but this is a less flashy, less inspired film. It’s a workmanlike, solidly enjoyable drama aimed at adults. This is not a surprise for me. David Fincher is one of the greatest directors of our time; while Mr. Sorkin is a fine director, he’s nowhere near Mr. Fincher’s level of genius. The cast assembled for The Social Reckoning is strong, but we don’t have the magical explosion of emerging talents that helped elevate The Social Network. (There’s a moment late in The Social Reckoning in which some emotional music started to play on the soundtrack, and I thought to myself: wow, we’re definitely in a far more conventional movie than what Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross brought to the vibe of The Social Network.)
But all of that is OK! I did not walk into this movie expecting a masterpiece at the level of The Social Network. I was hoping for a solidly entertaining adult drama with good writing and good acting, and I 100% got that! This type of movie used to be made all the time, but now it’s a rarity, and deserving of praise. But even when Hollywood was making lots more of these type of aimed-at-adults dramas, I’d have enjoyed and praised The Social Reckoning.
The story of Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg continues to be one of the most important stories of our era. If anything, Facebook/Meta has an even larger role in the lives of so many people across the globe than it did back in 2010 when The Social Network was released! And the negative effects of the platform — which is the focus of this film — are even more impactful on so many. This is an important story to be told, and it’s a delight to see the talented Aaron Sorkin & this filmmaking team rolling up their sleeves to take a wack at it. (As one character says in the film: “the mafia would be an easier enemy to make” than Facebook.)
While I think I’d call Mr. Sorkin’s directing solid if not particularly memorable, he continues to be a master of the screenplay. This is a movie drenched in complicated technical and legal issues, and somehow Mr. Sorkin always finds a way to make the jargon clear and easily understandable. There was no point in the film in which I felt bored or lectured to. Mr. Sorkin’s skill with dialogue allows him to blend the important exposition with bouncy character interactions, which keeps the scenes fun and lively. The Social Network was a much funnier film than this one is (in addition to being more emotionally devastating by the end); this is a more serious film from start to finish, and yet there were loads of fun little dialogue bits and bobs that made me smile as the story unfolded.
I enjoyed Mikey Madison’s work for years as Max in Better Things, and she took the world by storm with her Academy Award-winning lead performance in Anora. She’s terrific here as Frances Haugen. Ms. Madison brings an awkward nerd quality to Frances that feels appropriate for this super-smart tech-company employee, without going over-the-top into the type of dumb nerd cliches that one often finds in movies and TV shows. She does a wonderful job with Mr. Sorkin’s stylized dialogue, making it all flow naturally.
Jeremy Allen White (The Bear; Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere) is solid as Jeff Horwitz, the Wall Street Journal tech reporter who works with Frances to publish these secret Facebook documents. This is a far less showy role that what I’m used to seeing Mr. Allen White take on. Jeff is portrayed in the film as a fairly normal fellow, even-keeled and relatively soft-spoken. There aren’t too many Big Acting Moments. But that’s OK; I enjoyed the twinkle of good humor that Mr. Allen White brought to the character.
Like most everyone else, I was disappointed that Jesse Eisenberg chose not to return to the role of Mark Zuckerberg. Having seen the film; I can now understand why. The Social Network was primarily Mark’s story, but here he’s less prominent than Frances and Jeff. Mark is also in full Darth Vader, movie-villain mode here. This feels appropriate to me, based on this time period, and the profound negative impact of the actions that Frances accused Facebook of taking (or not taking, as the case may be). But I can see why Mr. Eisenberg chose to pass. That said, Mr. Sorkin & co. found a magnificent replacement for him in Jeremy Strong, who commands the screen in the role. You cannot look away from Mr. Strong’s intense, searing depiction of Mark. It’s fantastic.
Also fantastic is Bill Burr, who is the character allowed to challenge Mark and say all the things to him that I and so many others would probably love to say. I loved Mr. Burr’s intensity, and the way he’s able to bring just a twinge of humor into his scenes in a way that keeps them enjoyable and not too dour. (I was, though, disappointed to read after seeing the movie that Mr. Burr’s character of Charlie was a fictional character. I understand the need of playing with the reality a bit in order to craft an entertaining film, but I don’t like it when movies like this invent characters. Mr. Sorkin based Charlie on Roger McNamee, though by the time of this film’s events, Mr. McNamee had been pushed out of Facebook. It doesn’t appear there was anyone left in the company at that point who would pus back against Mark Zuckerberg the way Charlie does in the film — which, by the way, is a great example of how and why Facebook wound up going down the path it did…)
It’s always a pleasure seeing Wunmi Mosaku (Loki, Sinners) on screen; she’s great as Raya, the crisis management specialist tasked with helping make Mr. Zuckerberg look likable before his public hearings. Billy Magnussen (Bridge of Spies, No Time to Die, The People vs O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story) is terrifically loathsome as Teddy Marks, a Facebook media executive. Patrick Fischler (a familiar face from so many movies & TV shows, including Lost, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Mad Men, Veep, Barry, Mulholland Drive, Dinner for Schmucks, Hail Caesar!, and more) is perfect as one of the yes-men in suits working for Mr. Zuckerberg. Betty Gilpin (GLOW, Mrs. Davis), Gbenga Akinnagbe (The Wire, The Deuce, 24: Live Another Day), and Nelson Franklin (Veep, Argo, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World) are all a lot of fun in their scenes together as Jeff’s bosses at The Wall Street Journal.
If the film has a weakness, it’s that we don’t get as deeply into any of the characters as I’d have hoped. I wish I more powerfully felt the bond between Frances and Jeff in the story.
(I’ll also point out that I wish the film had ended about a minute before it did. Mr. Sorkin gave the film a magnificent end point when we see Mikey Madison as Frances looking into the screen and exhorting us, the viewer, to take action. They cut to black, and that would have been a fantastic ending. Instead, we get an extra minute, and end on the somewhat schmaltzy note of Fraces raising her arm in victory — an obvious callback to an earlier scene in the film.)
I’m glad to have seen The Social Reckoning. This is an important story, and Mr. Sorkin & his team did a solid job of bringing it to life here. As with pretty much all of Mr. Sorkin’s films, I am sure I will enjoy re-watching this down the line.
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