Molly's Game

Few actors on the planet can shift gears as effortlessly as Chastain, who perfectly captures Molly’s chameleon-like ability to adapt to situations and to rationalize her worst behavior.

Bloom’s an extraordinary character, expertly played, and we gradually move from admiring her chutzpah to genuinely caring what happens to her.

Molly’s Game isn’t the deepest movie you’ll see, but it’s both finely tuned and big-hearted. It’s a rouser.

When Sorkin does go off on side episodes, they’re for the greater good. Molly’s dealings with a nihilistic and smarmy A-list movie star (Michael Cera), a gambler (Bill Camp) who loses his cool, and the drunk Irishman (Chris O‘Dowd) responsible for pulling the Russian mafia into her games actually boost the overall narrative rather than cannibalize it.

When Molly’s Game is good, it’s very, very good. There are dazzling moments throughout, and it’s clear that Sorkin is having a blast. Much of the film is downright intoxicating, just like the world Molly Bloom found herself in.

Elba is one of those actors who radiates his own force field even if he’s sitting still, or just tying his shoe. His no-nonsense performance helps to eradicate some of Sorkin’s nonsense.

There's a blank space at the core of Molly's Game that the protagonist cannot fill, unable as she is to represent anything beyond her esoteric narrative of unorthodox self-actualization.

Very interesting story and excellent performances bring this movie all the way to a 9 for me, Every part of the movie is very interesting and there are some great emotional moments; plus the identities of the unnamed people in the story are very interesting.

Aaron Sorkin writes and directs this adaptation of an underground poker entrepreneur's almost-tell-all autobiography. As Sorkin's style is typically very polarizing, I figured we might as well get his name out of the way first. He's got his fingerprints all over Molly's Game, especially (as ever) in the film's breathlessly snappy, long-winded dialogue. As a fan, I'll gladly eat that stuff up, though I'd rank this one near the bottom of his extended portfolio. It lacks the thick tension of A Few Good Men, the untamed energy of The Social Network and the relentless motor of Moneyball. In conforming another writer's work to the screen, Sorkin's writing feels restrained, less electric. It brings us one great, big, passionate speech - powerfully delivered by an impassioned Idris Elba - but there seems room for two or three more. A protagonist who's generally cold and unlikable, withdrawn and specter-like in her own story, doesn't make things easy on the first-time director. Molly is a complicated character that we never completely figure out. When she enjoys a brief emotional breakthrough near the film's climax, it doesn't quite feel like she's earned it. She has a few tough run-ins with shady characters and uncaring G-Men, but it never feels like she's seriously at risk. Things just always seem to turn out in her favor, which leads to a rather flat ending. It's an interesting story, and the plot is well-structured to keep audiences from feeling pummeled by the thick splashes of word soup. It avoids most of the major pitfalls of a film that revolves around Texas Hold 'em, too, though in fairness the game itself is never actually the focus. I liked it, I didn't love it.

Molly's game is interesting as a movie because it does two things: - it is conscious of its book adaptation throughout the movie - it tells a convincing story of a supposed truthful one. The pros: - half decent acting (from celebrity actors) - screenplay acceptible - lots of interesting timeline shifting (flashbacks mostly) - story is relatively good The cons: - most characters feel like stereotypes - for some reason, half the characters will speak monotonely and with long paragraphs, affects the acting a lot. - *incoming* fake psychiatric session scene - story/marketing said it was a true story, details are exaggerated during movie duration to help the movie as a drama - over-dramatisation, parts where events happen without explanation just to set a dramatic tone Overall, it's a good movie. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone who enjoys cinematography, or acton flicks, or even political flicks, but it's an acceptible drama. This is definitely a movie intended for girls. There's very little in terms of stakes, there's a lot of weird "I can do it and men can't" scenes and scenes of "I'm hot and attractive so I'm irresistable to men" type stuff. Good feminist movie, feels overall like a "girl in a man's world" movie. So if you like that kind of stuff, this is not a half-bad version of that.

I don't know how this movie is getting such high reviews. It is well acted but . . . well it is a terrible story. Molly Bloom is a self centered, terrible human being. She profits off of gambling addicts, does drugs, and is a criminal. Her whole redeeming point is that she doesn't beat up people that owe her money. That is it. I going to guess that most of the positive reviews are only because Jessica Chastain is the lead . Kevin Costner also has a memorable turn in the film as Bloom's dad. Idris Elba also does a bang up job. Still, neither my wife or I cared what happened to Molly. Chastain has an issue that she comes off smarmy and as a know it all in every scene. I wanted her to go to jail.

Insufferably pretentious movie. Obnoxious dialogue and annoying characters.