Molly’s Game from 2017 is streaming on Netflix and several other services. I watched it and I really enjoyed it! If you haven’t seen it yet, I suggest you take a look.
Molly’s Game is based on a book by the real Molly Bloom, played here with calm determination by Jessica Chastain. Molly Bloom is hyper competitive. She was an Olympic level skier. The skiing was in spite of two steel rods in her back straightening her spine.
Jessica Chastain sat ramrod straight in the film. I appreciated that attention to detail.
At the beginning of the film, Molly is looking for a lawyer. She made her living running underground high stakes poker games. The FBI decided she was laundering money for the Russian mafia. They arrested her, took all her money, and planned to try her on a racketeering charge. What they really wanted was for her to give up all the names of the men who played in her poker games.
She never did.
After quite a search for a lawyer, Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba) agreed to be her lawyer. The dynamic between them and his slow conversion to believing her story was well done and genuine.
Molly’s father, played by Kevin Costner, drove her without mercy to excel at everything. The conflict between them was another interesting and revealing part of the story.
I frequently complain about voiceovers, but this entire story was told with Molly’s voiceovers. We got the action and dialog, and heard the book at the same time. I quite liked it. It really worked in this film.
I admire Molly Bloom. She’s smart and courageous. She got caught up in something and broke a law, but she was brilliant at what she did. The screenplay by Aaron Sorkin is quick and smart. Sorkin directed as well, giving the glitz and glamour of the high stakes poker world its due. Jessica Chastain and Aaron Sorkin created a brilliant and fascinating woman.
These days, the real Molly Bloom is working as a motivational speaker. If she’s even half as interesting as the movie version of herself, she must be fascinating to hear.
Here’s the trailer. You get a little sense of the voiceover in the trailer.
Did you see this when it first came out? If you missed it in theaters like I did, find it now and give it a watch.
I watched it recently and REALLY enjoyed it. Movies with narration always draw me in. I felt like Sorkin used that element much better than some recent films have. Also, he excels at delicate gray areas of personal code, how we treat each other; I felt Molly was responding to an undercurrent of violence in the “competition” of making money illegally.
I don’t usually like the narrator, but it really worked here. Plus, if only we all had Aaron Sorkin writing our daily conversations for us!
enjoyed this movie. i enjoy Ms. Chastain in everything she does and who doesnt love Idris Elba.
I forgot to mention how good Idris Elba was in this. Thanks for bringing him up. If this blog was about men instead of women, Idris Elba would be the main attraction.
Just discovered your blog; I was first hooked by the name. Now that I’ve read a few of your reviews, I’ll be coming back for more From one silver hair to another
Welcome. Thanks for reading and commenting.
I have been searching for the movie on Netflix for a long time couldn’t find it. Maybe Netflix India has a different version. The film seems to be intriguing as per the trailer and I have heard a lot about the film. Let me try to find it out once again in Netflix or in other streaming network.
I see it still on Netflix US. Prime Video has it for rent. Don’t know if that will help you in India, though.