MINOR SOCIAL RECKONING SPOILERS AHEAD
Aaron Sorkin must persistently hang out in laundry rooms because The Social Reckoning solidifies that he’s washed. This status quo becomes immediately clear with the film’s first on-screen words: “Prologue: White Girl Wasted.” What follows is a sloppily shot and edited prologue depicting a Caucasian lady going on a drunken tirade against two non-white cops. The scene is basically “we have Beth de Araújo’s Soft & Quiet at home.”
It’s also, unfortunately, a tragic distillation of the overall film's quality. Buckle up. Writer/director Aaron Sorkin isn’t done disappointing viewers. "You don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies"? More like, "You don't make a 2026 Aaron Sorkin movie without making countless mistakes."
That white lady was a casual friend of Facebook data engineer Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison). She's concerned that the social platform she loves is actually corrupting people and making society worse. Wanting to sound the alarm, she reaches out to tech luddite and newly minted Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White). The duo meets in isolated parks or Puerto Rico locations, and Haugen grows increasingly more comfortable divulging dirty Facebook secrets. It’s all a lame All the President’s Men/The Insider/Spotlight pastiche occuring in 2019 and 2020.
Occasionally, the story cuts to January 2021, when Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) is training to act like a human in front of the U.S. Senate by Raya (Wunmi Mosaku). Occasionally, Zuckerberg's former cohort Charlie (Bill Burr) interrupts these efforts. He's the sole voice of reason amongst the billionaires' yes-men.
Sorkin scripts used to have such zest. Not only did they have incredibly memorable lines about “fuck you flip-flops”, "You can't handle the truth!", and "He gets on base a lot,” but it was also compelling to see how idiosyncratic filmmakers translated this verbiage to the screen. Mike Nichols, David Fincher, Rob Reiner, Danny Boyle, Bennett Miller- these geniuses could compellingly realize Sorkin’s vivid prose with equal levels of visual finesse. Combining two distinct artistic flavors (like Fincher and Sorkin) created something extraordinary.
Unfortunately, this West Wing veteran is now directing his own scripts. Not only are his images lame, but his Social Reckoning writing is even more of a snooze than his Being the Ricardos or Molly’s Game scripts. Perhaps Sorkin thinks this material is “weighty” enough to need a heavier touch, but The Social Reckoning is a flatline. Laughs are few and far between. Colorful verbiage is similarly scarce. Only some of Zuckerberg and Charlie's exchanges elicit chuckles or energy. Otherwise, the dialogue here is monotonous. The screenwriting faults also include the characters lacking dimensionality. In The Social Network, the on-screen characters had rich lives beyond just coding or accomplishing Facebook-centric historical events. Think of the scene where a young Zuckerberg pulls Eduardo Saverin away from a party to talk in the snow, or the unforgettable Winklevoss twins rowing scene.
Here, though, none of The Social Reckoning figures have personalities or larger lives. I couldn’t describe Jeff Horwitz beyond him liking musicals, hating technology, and being written like a 65-year-old. Frances Haugen similarly has no definition beyond arch details suggesting she’s a nerd and a Facebook devotee. There are no romantic relationships here, no larger friendships to add texture to the central players. All the President’s Men and The Insider were about ordinary people compellingly confronting larger institutional forces. The Social Reckoning is about tedious mannequins exchanging statistics and hints at early 2020s historical events (“have you kept track of the virus?”) at each other.
Beyond these flatly written characters and Sorkin being in “serious movie” mode, The Social Reckoning is a snooze-inducing affair. Sorkin’s writing only comes “alive” when he has a bone to pick with young people. Whilst describing her racist and under-30 acquaintance, Haugen remarks that this woman “used to be progressive” but got frustrated after “the presidential candidate she supported…she thought the DNC sabotaged him.” Sorkin’s still mad at Bernie Sanders supporters in 2026, in other words. Then there’s his weird seething contempt for young women, which he filters through “slams” Horwitz directs at Haugen.
The most irritating of these is him responding to Haugen’s accusation of him “mansplaining” by saying that he and all other men have decided “that’s just a word women use when they’re losing an argument.” Horwitz also chastises Haugen and his college-aged lady intern for not knowing enough about Frank Capra movies and old musicals, respectively. As a cherry on top of these frustrating gender-based problems, the films finale involves Horwitz's stern boss, Kris (Betty Gilpin), asking if all the men in the room can leave the room so she and Frances can have a chat. This could be an interesting exchange, even if only it'd allow two master performers like Madison and Gilpin to bounce off each other.
Sorkin, though, immediately cuts away from this room to Horwitz and his editor standing outside. We never see Kris and Frances talking. God forbid two women have a conversation in this movie. The Social Reckoning just swerves out of passing the Bechdel Test like Neo narrowly dodging bullets.
These comically stupid “old man yells at cloud” moments are the only really “memorable” thing about such a disposable feature. Sorkin certainly doesn’t give viewers anything to chew on visually. He and cinematographer Jeff Cronenweth staunchly refuse to frame multiple characters in one shot. Instead, they persistently opt for static medium shots/reverse medium shots. The greatest visual flourish is draping briefly seen flashbacks to 2017 in black-and-white. Otherwise, The Social Reckoning further dilutes its already lifeless writing with tepid images.
Everyone here is in autopilot mode, alas. Composer Alexandre Desplat, for instance, conjures up various generic compositions so far removed artistically from his iconic tracks for movies like Fantastic Mr. Fox. Unfortunately, most of the actors are also just delivering what you’d expect. Jeremy Strong’s Mark Zuckerberg is what you’d expect Jeremy Strong playing Zuckerberg to look like. Intense. Surface-level. Not particularly specific. White is directed to play a hollow version of his Bear character. Similarly, Burr channels a more muted incarnation of his stand-up persona.
Only Mikey Madison steps outside of her comfort zone. In contrast to her phenomenally outsized Anora performance, her Frances Haugen is withdrawn, shy, always looking at the ground and fiddling with her fingers. She’s reasonably convincing exploring new territory as an actor, though Sorkin hands her the absolute worst Social Reckoning dialogue (including so many speeches about how her character “believes in Facebook!”). Not even Mikey Madison can salvage this capsized cinematic ship.
The Social Reckoning’s greatest transgression is how sleepy it is. This should be a movie bubbling with anger at tech oligarchs running rampant. Pervasive rage at the horrible status quo we’ve carved out for the next generation should permeate every second. Instead, Sorkin sleepwalks through a hollow regurgitation of journalism thriller storytelling touchstones. This includes an outright insulting happy ending concluding things on a fist-bump. How can Social Reckoning act like everything wrapped up all happy and hunky dory in 2021? Facebook and other tech companies are still ruining lives and exerting undue influence on society. Who would actually cheer and applaud this delusional revisionism of history?
When The Social Network came out, people worried it'd immediately age poorly. Instead, its performances, visuals, and score were so sublime they could work in any era. Its tale of toxic dudes building their own empires for petulant reasons, meanwhile, is also tragically relevant. In contrast, The Social Reckoning’s meditation on 2019-2021 history is immediately and hopelessly out of touch with reality.
From the “Prologue: White Girl Wasted” on-screen text to that closing fist-bump, The Social Reckoning combines groan-inducing creative choices with utter tedium. Those who manage to stay awake will be “rewarded” with Sorkin chastising young women and stunningly lame filmmaking. If you want an actually good 2026 investigative movie with potent rage at the status quo, watch Coyote vs. Acme instead. That Looney Tunes feature deserves your "full attention." The Social Reckoning deserves less than "the minimum amount" of your concentration.
The Social Reckoning begins playing in theaters on October 9.
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