The Social Reckoning First Reviews: Mikey Madison Shines and Jeremy Strong Nails the Uncanny Zuckerberg Valley
Critics say Aaron Sorkin's drama is a solid effort with great performances and a timely message, even if it isn't the sharpest thing he's written or directed.
Jeremy Strong portrays Meta/Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning, a new biopic opening in theaters this weekend, and the mixed first reviews of the movie are now online. Aaron Sorkin, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for The Social Network 15 years ago, is now also at the helm of his pseudo-sequel, which also stars Mikey Madison and Jeremy Allen White. While comparisons to its predecessor are inevitable, even taken as a standalone movie, it may only work for you if you appreciate both Sorkin’s writing and directing.
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Here’s what critics are saying about The Social Reckoning:
Is it worth seeing?
It’s one of the most riveting films I’ve seen this year.
– Manuel São Bento, Movies We Texted About
A more than decent movie on its own merits, and the actual scenes set within Facebook (or Meta, as it’s now called) are masterful.
– Chris Bumbray, JoBlo’s Movie Network
Sorkin’s fourth feature as a director, The Social Reckoning, is another thought-provoking drama, but one that has a charming sense of humor as well.
– Edward Douglas, The Weekend Warrior
If you like these actors or happen to be a Sorkin fan, the movie isn’t too bad, but if you want something other than a somewhat preachy story with great dialogue, you have come to the wrong place.
– Allison Rose, FlickDirect
How does it compare to The Social Network?
I think this one is as good as The Social Network, possibly better.
– Manuel São Bento, Movies We Texted About
While comparisons to Fincher’s work are unavoidable, his new film feels no need to copy its predecessor’s style, standing best as a spiritual companion piece to the 2010 classic, rather than a direct sequel.
– Linda Marric, Hey U Guys
The Social Reckoning goes where The Social Network did not by bravely attempting to pull back a much taller, heavier, and scarier curtain that veils the tech behemoth’s controversial aims from the general public.
– Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson
The Social Reckoning is not in the same league as The Social Network. The latter is a masterpiece… So, there’s no shame in this film not being on the level of that one.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
Everything that went right with The Social Network goes wrong here, resulting in a forgettable, clunky film that is technically shorter than The Social Network but somehow feels twice as long.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Did we really need another Facebook movie?
The Social Reckoning is exactly the kind of sequel that justifies its existence… a timely, gripping, and necessary piece of filmmaking.
– Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
[It’s] another essential part of the conversation about where social media has gotten us.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
Taken on its own terms, The Social Reckoning is a smart, propulsive and impressively performed piece of adult entertainment.
– Peter Gray, The AU Review
The Social Reckoning fails to make a case for itself.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Is it more of a celebration of journalism?
Rather than being the murky American Dream borderline biopic that The Social Network was, The Social Reckoning takes its staunch place as a journalism film in the same vein as the greats that came before it.
– Don Shanahan, Every Movie Has a Lesson
Sorkin has made his own modern-day Erin Brockovich.
– Edward Douglas, The Weekend Warrior
[Sorkin] clearly wants The Social Reckoning to be an All the President’s Men-ish crusade for truth and justice, but he can’t overlook the fact that in the end, Zuckerberg and Facebook got away with it all.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
The Social Reckoning does repeat itself… a problem many investigative journalism films share.
– Manuel São Bento, Movies We Texted About
Unlike other investigative journalism dramas, i.e., All the President’s Men, there is very little sense of urgency or immediate danger in The Social Reckoning.
– Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Does it tell us anything we didn’t already know?
Nothing here feels revelatory… like your well-meaning aunt is talking to you about the problems the world is facing long after everyone’s moved on to new, scarier ones.
– Graeme Guttmann, Screen Rant
The moments of would-be shocking truth bombs instead fizzle out given the audience’s I-know-it’s-bad-for-me-but attitude toward social media.
– Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
If a story stopped being worth telling once it had been reported, a big chunk of the movies made this decade would have to go.
– Manuel São Bento, Movies We Texted About
Is it still a powerful film?
The darkness of where Facebook took us/is taking us lands like a sledgehammer.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
That the film is both timely and relevant doesn’t hurt.
– Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
The Social Reckoning is a film that demands we listen to women and take action against oligarchs.
– Chris La Vigna, CBR
I really enjoyed how this movie was unafraid to point out some other dangers of social media, besides radicalization and spreading misinformation.
– Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
While it’s a damning depiction of the dangerous decisions unregulated tech companies love to make, it didn’t make me want to immediately delete all of my social media accounts, simply because none of what it explores feels surprising.
– Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
I’m fairly sure plenty of people will watch this and still refuse to believe it.
– Manuel São Bento, Movies We Texted About
Will it upset us?
It made me feel helpless, upset, and very, very angry.
– Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
I was riled up for two hours, and I kind of teared up during the climax.
– Manuel São Bento, Movies We Texted About
How is Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay?
A predictable source of delightfully elevated language, hilariously convoluted analogies, and seemingly random but thematically relevant asides and anecdotes.
– Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
Sorkin’s writing remains sharp and impactful.
– Chris La Vigna, CBR
If Sorkin’s screenplay sometimes feels as though it is standing at the edge of an even more probing film, what he has made is nevertheless difficult to dismiss.
– Peter Gray, The AU Review
There is no doubt Sorkin has a way with words, but his dialogue here becomes a little preachy and bogged down in minutiae.
– Allison Rose, FlickDirect
Oddly enough, even Sorkin’s script is lacking. There’s no zest here; no energy. It’s all so bland and flavorless.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
Sorkin shows he’s a writer far past his prime, recycling the same tropes, characters, and prejudices without a single new idea worth considering.
– Matt Goldberg, Commentary Track
What about his directing?
This is the first time it felt like he’d have been better served as just the screenwriter. Sorkin the writer is a genius. Sorkin the director is, at best, solid.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
Sorkin has no collaborator to prevent him from highlighting, underlining, and bolding his proudest moments as a writer.
– Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
He really should stop directing his own work.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
In this film, his fourth, Sorkin doesn’t show much growth and instead relies on a more familiar approach. Unfortunately, that approach, which resonated so potently during the tail end of America’s cozy Clinton years, is unfit for our pessimistic moment.
– Kent M. Wilhelm, The Film Stage
The movie looked flat the whole time. I felt Sorkin’s choices on where to place the camera looked like 2000s network television.
– Julian Lytle, Geek Girl Riot / RIOTUS
How is Jeremy Strong’s portrayal of Mark Zuckerberg?
He’s doing Zuckberg a bit mannered, but it’s still rather chilling work.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
He plays Zuckerberg as aggressively awkward, deeply annoying, and fundamentally unlikable. And he nails it.
– Tessa Smith, Mama’s Geeky
As Zuckerberg, the infamously intense Jeremy Strong is perfectly cast… His Zuckerberg feels like the natural next step from Eisenberg’s portrayal of the tech giant in The Social Network.
– Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
Strong delivers an Oscar-worthy performance.
– Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
Strong often feels like he’s in a completely different film, and, in some ways, he is – the character of Mark is shoe-horned in for effect here, rather than his having any actual bearing on the main plot.
– Graeme Guttmann, Screen Rant
While he does a great job channeling Zuckerberg’s lifeless eyes and flat affect, the character borders on caricature.
– Chris Evangelista, Slashfilm
I felt like he was playing Zuckerberg like he was Bert from Sesame Street. I’m sitting here like, why they got Bert in the suit.
– Julian Lytle, Geek Girl Riot / RIOTUS
Does Mikey Madison deliver another award-worthy performance?
Mikey Madison is the best part of the film.
– Julian Lytle, Geek Girl Riot / RIOTUS
Madison inhabits her character as completely and believably as she did in her star-making turn as a Brooklyn stripper, proving herself to be a versatile actress with the potential for a robust, varied career ahead of her.
– Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
Madison… reminds us once again why she won an Academy Award.
– Allison Rose, FlickDirect
I don’t know if Madison will win another Oscar, but she makes a strong case here for another nomination.
– Danielle Solzman, Solzy at the Movies
Are there any other supporting players who deserve recognition?
Bill Burr is best amongst the rest of the supporting cast, going toe to toe with Strong.
– Joey Magidson, Awards Radar
Burr is a standout as a key adviser to Zuckerberg. His delivery is note perfect.
– Linda Marric, Hey U Guys
Burr was the surprise of the cast for me.
– Manuel São Bento, Movies We Texted About
The wonderful Wunmi Mosaku is a standout as Raya… Mosaku is a natural at handling Sorkin’s dialogue, consistently placing the perfect emphasis on precisely the right words to make his lines sing.
– Cody Dericks, Next Best Picture
Betty Gilpin threatens to walk away with the film whenever she’s allowed into it.
– Peter Gray, The AU Review
Are there any other major problems with the movie?
Sorkin sees the darkness of the story but undercuts nearly all its gravity with a victorious fist-pump parting shot.
– Kent M. Wilhelm, The Film Stage
I don’t know who this is for, and I don’t think people have a clueless relationship with the services Meta supplies. The reckoning has been happening, and new problems have exploded, and I don’t think this film even acknowledges these things.
– Julian Lytle, Geek Girl Riot / RIOTUS
The Social Reckoning is in theaters on October 9, 2026. Buy tickets on Fandango.
