Social media is a blessing and an unfathomable curse.
We can connect with long-lost friends or make new ones on Facebook. New grandparents can instantly share adorable baby photos with a few clicks. And teens can watch their already wobbly self-image crater on Instagram.
That’s just the tip of the cultural iceberg, of course.
“The Social Reckoning” twists that truth into yet another attack on President Donald Trump and, in some ways, on free speech.
The delayed sequel to “The Social Network” is a far less interesting tale, one with a partisan chip on its shoulder. Director Aaron Sorkin’s film is never dull, but it’s so blinded by ideology it forgets what makes a killer story.
Jeremy Allen White stars as Jeff Horwitz, an ace reporter who’s flummoxed by Google Maps. So he’s naturally assigned to cover Facebook for The Wall Street Journal.
Still, he’s pugnacious and thorough, and he quickly feasts on fears that Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) is editing online responses to his latest speech.
Stop the presses! It’s like harassing a local politician for wearing too much cologne.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Enjoying Hollywood in Toto? I hope you’ll leave a coin (or two) in our TIP JAR.
Jeff attempts to reach anyone behind the scenes at Facebook, Inc. to confirm his suspicions. That leads him to Frances (Mikey Madison), a disillusioned employee who thinks something far more sinister is at work in ZuckerVille.
Facebook may be radicalizing site users for clicks and cash, and Frances has some of the receipts. Except she’s understandably fearful of being found out, so she begins a series of clandestine meetings with Jeff to divulge what she can without being canned.
Or worse.
Sorkin, working from his own script, alternates those scenes with snippets of Zuckerberg undergoing media training for an upcoming Hill interrogation. The robot-like CEO is drilled by his team, including a former ally who turned on him (Bill Burr).
The scenes are sophomorically assembled, turning Zuckerberg into a barely functional robot. The stiff production design and staging suggest Sorkin sorely needs to stick to writing.
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The sequences also let Sorkin indulge in abject lecturing, although in his defense the rest of the film is guilty of similar sins. Everyone is weighing on the battle between social media and free speech, the moral quagmire of a digital town hall and related issues.
Sorkin is a genius at tasty quips, which helps us process some of the more stilted storytelling. He’s less adept at making laborious talking points sound like actual humans interacting.
Some lines suggest the Sorkin who wrote the free speech ode in “The American President” is long gone.
“Not everyone deserves a microphone,” White’s character says at one point. Really? Who decides that? Can Sorkin hear himself?
Another loaded line, the kind that tells us Sorkin is here to billboard his views, not tell a complicated story?
“The Mafia would be an easier enemy to make,” Jeff’s editor warns.
Facebook’s quest for clicks above all else leads to Jan. 6, which the director blames on Facebook. Why, it’s as if Reddit, Twitter, YouTube and other social media giants never existed.
At first, Sorkin’s camera takes a modest approach to the ugly riots. Later, he channels his inner Pelosi, showing cartoonish images of protesters’ boots stepping on police officers’ heads.
Composer Alexandre Desplat’s score, while far from his best work, goes into overdrive during the Jan. 6 sequences. It’s like a teacher breaking out her red pen, circling a student’s errors and then using a yellow highlighter and glitter to make the corrections pop.
The film opens with a silly sequence where a drunken white woman dresses down two minority police officers, recording all the while. That character comes back throughout the movie in ways so comical it’s almost a parody of a “message” movie.
If only. (Just know the film never mentioned a certain president by name … the Voldemort treatment!
Sorkin is oh, so concerned with social media misinformation. He’s right, of course. It’s everywhere online, and the fight to rein in it remains a massive cultural debate. And you can just as easily find misinformation on CNN, The New York Times and other Legacy Media platforms.
Any thoughts on that, Aaron?
Just don’t drink any movie theater soda when Sorkin’s script mentions vaccine misinformation on Facebook. You might just spray the poor people in front of you with your Diet Coke.
The only surprising line in the film? Jeff fires back at Frances after she accuses him of “mansplaining.” Women only play that card when they’re losing an argument. Ouch.
Otherwise, “The Social Reckoning” is endlessly glib and predictable, but it’s rarely dull and has the pacing of a much better thriller. It’s a perfect example of a talented artist who let his ideology get the better of him.
It might be the sequel to “The Social Network,” but it has far more in common with Alejandro G. Iñárritu’s equally insufferable “Digger.”
HiT or Miss: 2 out of 5 stars
Genre: Drama
Runtime: 1 hour, 52 minutes
Where to Watch: In theaters Oct. 9
Family Friendly? Mild sexual situations, adult language and adult themes: R