Early in The Social Reckoning, a douchey finance bro on a joyless date with the protagonist makes the preposterous claim that chlorophyll is “an internal deodorant,” stating this as fact because he read it on Facebook. “You drink it and your sweat smells like flowers!” he enthuses. While the scene is played for low-key cringe comedy, it nails two key issues at the heart of Aaron Sorkin’s engrossing whistleblower thriller — one is the irresponsible spread of misinformation on the supposedly smiley-happy social media service, while the other is the public’s willingness to buy whatever gets fed to them.
When Jeremy Strong’s cartoonishly affectless but mordantly funny Mark Zuckerberg — whose founding of Facebook was chronicled with needling perspicacity in David Fincher’s 2010 drama The Social Network — describes himself as “a free-speech absolutist,” what he means is that his opposition to fact checking is company policy. That applies whether we’re talking organized hate groups, politicians slamming their opponents in negative campaigning, or teenage mean girls bullying and body-shaming their peers.
The algorithm is the enemy.
Release date: Friday, Oct. 9
Cast: Mikey Madison, Jeremy Allen White, Jeremy Strong, Wunmi Mosaku, Betty Gilpin, Billy Magnussen, Bill Burr, Anna Lambe, Gbenga Akinnagbe
Director-screenwriter: Aaron Sorkin
Rated R, 1 hour 52 minutes
Sorkin won an Oscar with his adapted screenplay for The Social Network, and if his follow-up,...
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