“The Social Reckoning”

When Aaron Sorkin wrote the screenplay to “The Social Network” in 2010, the idea of a glossy biopic about a time-wasting website felt somewhat ridiculous. Nearly two decades into our social media-dominated hellscape, no one is laughing. 

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For “The Social Reckoning,” Sorkin steps into the director’s chair to tell the story of the so-called “Facebook Papers,” which lifted the veil on the site’s troubling algorithm. Newly minted Oscar-winner Mikey Madison (“Anora”) plays whistleblower Frances Haugen, a member of Facebook’s civic integrity team who finds herself troubled when a onetime Bernie-boosting acquaintance goes full alt-right in a matter of months. Realizing her own company’s feed played a hand in her friend’s radicalization, Frances turns to Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White), a tech-averse political reporter working the social media beat. As Frances fills Jeff in on Facebook’s dirty secrets, we jump back and forth from their 2019 meetings to a 2021 crisis meeting, where Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong, replacing “Social Network” star Jesse Eisenberg) and his handlers attempt to soften his edges ahead of his pending congressional hearings.

While it’s tempting to call “The Social Reckoning” a sequel to “The Social Network,” it’s more of a companion piece (a Meta-sequel, if you will). Zuckerberg is here reduced to a supporting role, the focus shifting to his Frankenstein-like creation and those attempting to rein it in. At its best, “Reckoning” adopts the rhythms of a classic journalism picture, following its leads further and further down the digital rabbit hole. Madison and White are skilled vessels for Sorkin’s signature banter, and it’s tough not to be drawn into their quest — particularly as the connections between Facebook’s algorithm and real-life political violence come into focus.

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Unfortunately, “Reckoning” fails to measure up to its predecessor. Strong is miscast, his trademark intensity at odds with both Eisenberg’s squirrelly energy and Zuck’s fundamental weenie-ness (a better substitute would have been Michael Cera). Sorkin is a far less engaging director than David Fincher, preferring standard shot-reverse-shot closeups over the “Network” director’s MTV edginess. With no outside director to temper his voice, Sorkin’s worst impulses are left unchecked; a “metrosexual” joke would have been eye-rollingly dated even in 2019, and when Horwitz quips that “mansplaining” is a term women use “when they know they’re losing an argument” there’s an unsettling sense that Sorkin agrees. Then there’s the triumphant ending, which can’t help but feel a little hollow as soon as you leave the theater and glance at your phone. As brave as Haugen and Horwitz were, the reckoning is far from over.

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At Kendall Square Cinema, Apple Cinemas Cambridge, and AMC Assembly Row