Movie Review: ‘The Social Reckoning’

In 2010, “The Social Network,” a fact-based drama penned by Aaron Sorkin and directed by David Fincher, explored the controversial circumstances surrounding the creation of the hugely influential website Facebook. The film was both critically acclaimed and a resounding success at the box office.

Returning as screenwriter and now occupying the director’s chair as well, Sorkin delivers “The Social Reckoning” (Sony), a follow-up focused on a more recent but equally contentious chapter in the company’s history. While it lacks the gripping fascination of its predecessor, the sequel is nonetheless intelligent entertainment aimed at — and appropriate for — mature viewers.

Shifting back and forth between 2019 and the two following years, Sorkin tells the story of the tense partnership between Facebook insider Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison) and Wall Street Journal investigative reporter Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White). The former is a socially awkward data scientist, the latter an assured and aggressive divulger of secrets.

Unsettled by the radicalization of a once-progressive but now far-right friend, Haugen has uncovered the fact that many Facebook users have embraced fringe political beliefs based on covert guidance from the website itself. Finding that none of her colleagues or superiors is willing to listen to her explanation of the problem, she turns to Horwitz for help.

Horowitz, however, can only publish Haugen’s research if it’s backed up by confidential documents. Still dedicated to Facebook’s overall mission, Haugen is unwilling to cross that line. She’s also persistently annoyed by the fact that Horowitz is completely clueless when it comes to even the most basic aspects of internet technology.

As Haugen gradually agrees to take greater risks in assisting Horowitz, Facebook co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) prepares to testify before Congress. He’s aided in this endeavor by the advice of public relations expert Raya Akinola (Wunmi Mosaku) and by the adversarial prodding of collaborator-turned-critic Charlie Garrigan (Bill Burr).

Sorkin deploys his characteristically keen dialogue and flashes of wit to animate his screenplay’s debate about the balance between free speech and responsible citizenship. The political dice, however, is undeniably loaded.

You don’t have to be a James Carville or a Karl Rove, for instance, to understand the implications of Garrigan’s charge that the party most likely to post lies on Facebook is also the one that generally favors deregulation. The climax of the movie also implies that Facebook facilitated the violence that engulfed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

That same year, Haugen’s full-blown whistleblowing allowed Horwitz to write a series of revelatory articles in the Journal under the collective title “The Facebook Files.”

While lacking in impartiality, “The Social Reckoning” does provide viewers with a generally perceptive examination of the effects of the internet on society at large. Older teens, along with grown-ups, might benefit from this exploration. But their parents will have to weigh the potential insights they might gain against the high quotient of vulgarity in Sorkin’s script.

The film contains about a dozen uses of profanity, a couple of milder oaths, frequent rough and crude expressions and occasional crass language. The OSV News classification is A-III — adults. The Motion Picture Association rating is R — restricted. Under 17 requires accompanying parent or adult guardian.

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