Even if you already deplore the bilious and overly-permed Mark Zuckerberg, writer/director Aaron Sorkin’s “The Social Reckoning” (Sony/Columbia), a sort of sequel to David Fincher’s “The Social Network” (for which Sorkin wrote the screenplay), will likely provide you with additional reasons to loathe the ironically socially obdurate multi-billionaire.
Based on a true story, “The Social Reckoning” opens with a too-long prologue in which an intoxicated Kayleigh (Portia Doubleday) goes on a shocking racist rant against two police officers who are trying to assist her with roadside car trouble. She captures it all on her phone and subsequently posts the video on a white supremacist Facebook page where it receives a great deal of attention.
Kayleigh happens to have once been a friend of Facebook employee Frances Haugen (Oscar-winner Mikey Madison), a product manager, who is stunned by her friend’s shocking radicalization. Frances is incredibly bright, which only fuels her lack of social skills. This makes it difficult for her to find a way to share her troubling findings regarding issues with Facebook’s “civic engagement” and “meaningful social interaction” algorithms with co-workers and other higher-ups.
Fortunately for her, The Wall Street Journal’s San Francisco bureau just hired Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) to be a tech reporter. Unfortunately for Horwitz, he has extraordinarily little knowledge of the subject and must learn on the fly. On the other hand, he lucks out when Frances is the only one who replies to the mass email he sent out to Facebook employees. White and Madison succeed in bringing Sorkin’s trademark snappy dialogue to life.
This is where the thriller element of “The Social Reckoning” takes shape. Frances, who signed a strict NDA, is aware that she is putting her career and her future in jeopardy by speaking to Horwitz and sharing her discoveries. However, because of her love for Facebook (which she reiterates throughout the movie), she realizes that she is destined to be a whistleblower. The scenes between Haugen and Horwitz have an “All The President’s Men” feel and are among the movie’s most effective.
The same cannot be said for Jeremy Strong’s flawed characterization of the cold-blooded Zuckerberg. Whatever limited charm and humanity Jesse Eisenberg brought to his portrayal of the Facebook Fuhrer in “The Social Network” has been replaced with robotic movement and expression. Whether he’s being prepped for giving testimony or delaying an urgent decision while watching coverage of the January 6th attempted insurrection, he’s basically a mannequin. The only things missing from the Zuckerberg scenes in which he actually reacts are smoke pouring from his nostrils and foam spewing from his dishonest mouth.
Rating: B-
