‘The Social Reckoning’: Sorkin’s iMovie era, but make it journalism
‘The Social Reckoning’ has been ratioed by critics and I’m here to reply to the mob with a very specific “well, actually.”
Aaron Sorkin writes and directs this follow-up to ‘The Social Network,’ dramatizing the 2021 Facebook Files leak.
Mikey Madison plays whistleblower Frances Haugen, Jeremy Allen White plays Wall Street Journal reporter Jeff Horwitz and Jeremy Strong plays Mark Zuckerberg. It sits at 64 per cent on Rotten Tomatoes and 50 on Metacritic, which is the movie equivalent of a participation ribbon.
Let’s get the critique out of the way, because most of it is fair.
The social media commentary arrives with all the subtlety of a push notification. Madison’s Haugen is written a little silly at times, which is a strange choice for a woman who took on one of the most powerful companies on earth.
And the directing? Critics keep saying Sorkin is no David Fincher and I’d add that the cuts are so basic you could have made them on iMovie on a Tuesday.
Sorkin writes dialogue that sprints, then films it like he’s guarding the footage.
But here’s what the pile-on skipped: the film gets journalists right, which almost never happens.
Light spoiler ahead.
When Haugen finally agrees to go public with her name, Horwitz doesn’t cheer, and he doesn’t pounce. He asks if she’s sure. Then he asks her to think about it again.
Any other movie would have given him a fist pump and a swelling orchestra. This one lets a reporter sit on the biggest story of his career and say “wait” instead.
As a journalist, I nearly sat up in my seat. That’s the job. You want the story badly and you’re also responsible for the person who handed it to you. The scene doesn’t turn him into a saint or a snake. It just shows a guy doing the uncomfortable, ethical thing at the exact moment he’d most like not to.
Several critics also say the film is rose-coloured about what the leak changed and they have a point. The ending oversells the “reckoning.” The working relationship doesn’t.
So no, it isn’t ‘The Social Network.’ It won’t make you log off Facebook forever and it probably shouldn’t have been directed by the guy who wrote it.
But for one scene, it understands the thing most movies about reporters forget: the source is a person.
Watch it for that. Then maybe put your phone in a drawer.
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