The Social Reckoning Review: Sharp Sorkin, a Scene-Stealing Jeremy Strong, and Not Quite Enough Heart

Aaron Sorkin’s follow-up to The Social Network is a fast-talking political thriller that holds your attention and never gets near the original. 7/10.

The Social Network is one of the best films ever made, as far as I’m concerned. David Fincher directed it, Aaron Sorkin wrote it, and it plays like history now. So walking into The Social Reckoning, with Sorkin writing and directing this time, my question was simple: what else is there to tell?

More than I expected. The Social Network was about the creation of Facebook. The Social Reckoning is about what Facebook turned into: a phenomenon that took over daily life and became something tragic for society along the way.

The film follows the 2021 leak of internal Facebook documents by data engineer Frances Haugen to Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz. It jumps between 2019 and 2021, as Mark Zuckerberg gears up to defend his company. It’s a fascinating way back into this story, even if the movie itself lands somewhere in the middle.

Madison and White have their moments

Mikey Madison plays Frances Haugen, and after her Oscar win for Anora, you walk in expecting the follow-up to be something special. I’m on the fence. Madison did her research, but she never met the real Haugen, so this is very much a character of her own making.

There’s a lot to like in it. Her Frances is focused. She isn’t out to destroy Facebook. She wants to expose what’s been going on inside the company and do some good for the rest of us. The film also gives her a health condition, and the tendencies and tics that come with it help the character pop.

But I think she suffers under Sorkin’s direction. Something felt off. I never fully invested in her emotionally, even with the good moments she gets throughout.

Jeremy Allen White plays Jeff Horwitz, the reporter who helps Frances bring those secrets out. He isn’t out to hurt anybody, least of all her. There’s enough chemistry between them that you start wondering if the film is heading toward romance, and I honestly couldn’t tell where it was going.

This is a mode I haven’t seen from White before. No yelling like on The Bear or Shameless. He’s laid-back, simple and reserved, and I liked what he was doing. I just wish he had more to do.

Jeremy Strong walks away with it

The standout, to no one’s surprise, is Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. He plays him a bit like Kendall Roy, only nerdier, and I bought it completely.

I believed this was Jesse Eisenberg’s Zuckerberg years down the line. He’s more confident, he’s sharper, he’s fearless, and he’s ready to defend the company whatever it takes.

The rest of the ensemble is fine. There are big names everywhere, including Betty Gilpin, Bill Burr and Billy Magnussen, but they’re there to serve the story and not much more. Nobody else really pops. Burr is just Bill Burr in this movie, though he does get some good lines. (The crossing guard one, sure.)

Sorkin’s script is sharp, but it’s no Social Network

Sorkin’s writing is solid here. It’s sharp and it’s fast, the way his screenplays always are, and I enjoyed it.

The film gets into what the company was doing around AI, bullying and social controversy. Some of that gets real exploration, and some of it only scratches the surface. The dialogue flies left and right, and I want to watch it again just to lock in on certain scenes and catch what I missed.

Is it better than The Social Network? Absolutely not. If anything, it’s a step down. I wanted more character depth and more emotion.

It helps to stop thinking of it as a sequel. This is a political thriller that involves Facebook and Mark Zuckerberg without making them the whole focus. Think of it as its own thing.

What it’s really about is how much Facebook has changed. It’s Meta now, AI is part of the picture, and we rely on all of it for pretty much everything. It affects kids, it affects adults, and it affects how we get through the day.

Verdict: 7/10

I went back and forth between a six and a seven, and I’m settling on the seven. The more I think about it, the more I liked it. I was never bored. Some scenes aren’t great, and some are pretty damn good.

It’s not Sorkin’s best and it’s not his worst. It sits right in the middle.

On the Oscar front, I don’t see much. Maybe Jeremy Strong in supporting actor if the film gets lucky, and maybe a screenplay nomination for Sorkin. Critics have been praising Madison. I had her in my predictions and took her out, and I may put her back if she starts landing in more places.

I do recommend seeing it. It’s an enjoyable film and a real conversation starter, depending on how much you like political thrillers.

The Social Reckoning is in theaters now.