The Stream: Some corny and silly moments will make you roll your eyes.
The Big Screen: Aaron Sorkin’s dialogue still crackles for the most part.
The Final Bill: It’s more like a television episode than the prestige movie it wants to be.
– Trip Fontaine
Director: Aaron Sorkin
Writers: Aaron Sorkin
Stars: Jeremy Allen White, Mikey Madison, Wunmi Mosaku, Jeremy Strong, Bill Burr, Billy Magnussen, Betty GilpinGenre: Drama, Biography, Thriller
Rating: R for language
Runtime: 1 hour 46 minutes
Production Companies: Alcon Entertainment, Columbia Pictures, Escape Artists, Gotham Group, TSG Entertainment
Platform: In theaters October 9, 2026
Notable Trailers: Wild Horse Nine, Artificial, Violent Night 2, I Play Rocky, Klara and the Sun, Ghost Soldier
What’s up, Streamers! It feels like social media and the ills that come with it are inescapable part of life now. It wasn’t too long ago that Facebook dominated the social media space without regulation until there was a social reckoning. *ding* In The Social Reckoning, when Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), a member of the Civic Integrity team at Facebook, discovers that engagement on Facebook has radicalized an acquaintance and the company has no interest in addressing the apparent widespread issue, she releases information to an investigative reporter with The Wall Street Journal, Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White) in order to make it publicly known. Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) prepares for his testimony before United States Senate with his public relations team. Sorkin walk-and-talks and Meta hijinks ensue.
The Social Reckoning was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin, which means this movie benefits from Sorkin’s writing but suffers from his direction. The dialogue crackles like Sorkin dialogue typically does. It is fast-paced and packed with a lot of information. When characters spar with each other, you can’t help but be drawn in. While they don’t talk like real people, that doesn’t matter that much when it is so entertaining. The only problem is that sometimes it can be very corny. Also, there are moments when Sorkin tries for humor that seems entirely misplaced. I don’t think this movie was supposed to be a comedy. As far as the direction goes, again the tone is inconsistent. There is a weird romantic tension between Frances and Jeff that is uncomfortable and unbelievable. There are comedy bits that don’t work. The time jumps between the Frances/Jeff parts and the Zuckerberg parts are disjointed and don’t complement each other. Actually, the movie feels like an episode of one of Sorkin’s television shows like “The Newsroom.” For me, that’s not a bad thing per se, but I don’t have to go to the movie theater for that.
Just as a side note: The acting is fine, but your mileage may vary with Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg. I get his commitment to authenticity and maybe Mark Zuckerberg does act like an alien in real life, but this portrayal is annoying and cringey. I wish there was more finesse. Strong’s impersonation of Zuckerberg is less a character than a cartoon. Just my two cents.
Ultimately, The Social Reckoning accomplishes what it sets out to do, but it is very “meh” in its execution. Sorkin’s dialogue makes for entertaining scenes, but the tone and format of the movie are disjointed. This movie is more like an episode of network television than a prestige movie. For those reasons, grab a handful of popcorn and catch this one on streaming while you scroll on Facebook.
