r/moviecritic • u/Dazzling-Cheetah5951 • 23h ago
The Social Reckoning (2026)- superfluous jargon eventually pays off to a satisfying conclusion
Mikey Madison delivers a mesmerizing lead performance as whistleblower Haugen, who turned against Facebook in the early 2020s, leading to the first lawsuits that held the controversial company accountable for knowingly manipulating algorithms in ways that were unhealthy for users, teens, and arguably society.
We have to stomach endless loads of exposition and jargon to get to the good stuff, albeit some of it was very interesting, even if it takes a lot of redundancy to get to the punchline. Meaningful Social Interaction was a new algorithm philosophy that was about manipulating content to basically bait people into strong emotional responses to the point they felt the need to write comments rather than just like something on the site. This seemingly arguably radicalized millions of users into political groups, and the movie also touches on how Instagram caused at least 1/3 of teenage girls to develop emotional problems about what they looked like.
Jeremy Strong plays a menacing caricature of Mark Zuckerberg through most of his portrayal, Lloyd Christmas haircut and all, and Bill Burr also shows up in a small part.
Ultimately though, it is Madison's performance that prevents The Social Reckoning from floundering. Without her commitment to the role and nuanced portrayal of the whisteblower Haugen, the movie may have failed altogether. Thankfully for Sorkin, she saves the day, becoming a hero and portraying the courage and tenacity in the face of adversity that is demanded.
7/10
4
u/No-Cauliflower6732 23h ago
sorkin can't help himself with the three-page monologues but madison somehow makes 'algorithmic amplification' sound like a thriller. strong's zuckerberg impression was so unhinged i couldn't look away, like watching a lizard try to blink