I did warn you a few days ago, but it also wasn't hard to predict that this would be the fate awaiting Aaron Sorkin's "The Social Reckoning."
The review embargo has lifted on Sorkin's "Social Network" follow-up, and things are not looking good for the film, which was already tracking for a miserable opening in the $5M range. The current tally is 50 on Metacritic and 67% on Rotten Tomatoes. As far as Oscar odds are concerned, this film is DOA.
The main complaint seems to be that Sorkin directed his own script. He just can't match Fincher's craft, can't capture the rhythm of his own dialogue, and has no outside collaborator to rein in his indulgent writing habits. The Globe and Mail’s Barry Hertz who describes the film as an “insufferably sanctimonious fantasia of blue-state boomers.”
Much to the shock of nobody, if you've seen Sorkin's last few films, critics find "The Social Reckoning" dated and preachy: a story the extremely online already know, told in a sanctimonious, classical-Hollywood style that feels out of step with the moment. The characters are also seen as thin. Jeremy Strong's Zuckerberg comes off as a robotic, one-note villain, and the ensemble is described as lacking chemistry.
The trailers had already hinted at something dull and flat, with a TV-movie look. I know it's been said countless times before, but Sorkin shouldn't direct his own scripts. He needs a strong director to rein him in and give his words visual life. That said, I will defend "Molly's Game" as his only good directorial outing.
The film was doomed without Fincher or Eisenberg, even though it's only loosely connected to "The Social Network."
Who asked for this movie? Sony thought it had an Oscar contender and greenlit the project expecting it to be part of the awards conversation. I know the industry loves Sorkin, and I gather Sony's Tom Rothman is a fan, given that he entrusted him with this entire project, but this is going to turn out to be one hell of a costly misfire for the studio.
“The Social Reckoning” hits theaters on Friday.
Talk about karma. Less than two years after Mike De Luca and Pam Abdy showed him the door, Josh Goldstine is coming back. David Ellison has tasked the veteran marketer to oversee Skydance marketing.