Review: in 'The Social Reckoning', Sorkin returns to Facebook, Mikey Madison steals the film as whistleblower Frances Haugen — and Jeremy Strong's Zuckerberg becomes a bit player in his own story

Sixteen years after 'The Social Network', Aaron Sorkin — now writer and director — returns to Facebook through another door. 'The Social Reckoning', opening in US theaters this Friday (9), follows Frances Haugen (Mikey Madison), a data scientist on the company's civic integrity team who comes to suspect the algorithm pushes users toward extremist groups. She takes the material to Jeff Horwitz (Jeremy Allen White), a Wall Street Journal reporter, while Mark Zuckerberg (Jeremy Strong) prepares to testify before Congress on the eve of the 'Facebook Files'. The structure jumps between 2019 and 2021, with Bill Burr, Wunmi Mosaku and Betty Gilpin in support.

The film's best asset is what Sorkin has always done well: turning technical subjects into gripping dialogue, and here the algorithm's logic comes through clearly without becoming a lecture. Madison is the heart of the story, a conflicted Frances that AV Club calls the most nuanced performance in the cast and Consequence counts among Sorkin's most fully realized women. The problem is the other side: Strong's Zuckerberg split opinion — 'locked-in' for some, 'robotic' and possibly a career-worst for AV Club — and the jumps to his storyline break the rhythm just as the investigation heats up. Dated jokes, like the 'girl intern' bit, age badly, and anyone following Facebook news will recognize many of the 'revelations'.

The scoreboard sums it up: a 63% early Rotten Tomatoes score, with praise such as 'one of the most riveting films I've seen this year' alongside the verdict that it 'fails to make a case for itself'. It's a competent, timely journalism thriller led by a rising actress, but it never reaches the electricity of 'The Social Network' — Sorkin the writer is still sharp; Sorkin the director is, at best, solid. Score: 6.5/10