Movie Review: Molly’s Game
I FINALLY got to Molly’s Game. It’s like the forces of the universe were preventing me from watching this movie. The movie showing was at 9:30pm but there were technical difficulties so I had to watch about five minutes of the 50 Shades Of Grey movie while they fixed the issue…..
After watching scenes where Dakota Johnson’s character, Anastasia, marries Christian Grey who seems like a douchebag, I was finally able to watch Molly’s Game after the technical issue was fixed.
So what’s the verdict on this movie: I LOVED it.
Backstory
Molly’s Game was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (The Social Network, The Newsroom) and starred Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba.
Molly’s Game is actually based on a true story of Molly Bloom, a former US Olympic skier who becomes the target of an FBI investigation of the underground poker empire she runs for Hollywood celebrities, athletes, business tycoons, and the Russian mob. The movie is about Molly narrating her story and seeking help from lawyer Charlie Jaffey (played by Idris Elba).
It’s a great movie about a young woman who suffers a mishap during her Olympic run to working jobs at clubs to eventually using her wits and smarts to run high risk poker games.
I feel in love with the Molly Bloom character. She was smart and calculating. In all, she was in a “man’s world” and she used all the tricks she could think of to get ahead.
Jessica Chastain played the character brilliantly and Idris Elba played a good supporting role as her lawyer.
Kudos also have to be given to Kevin Costner who played Molly’s dad and was a sleeper star in this movie.
Throughout the movie, you’re kind of rooting for Molly but at the same time, in the back of your head, cursing her out for trying to push the limits of what she’s doing with the poker games. At some point, the karma catches up to her and soon enough, there’s a gun in her mouth because she crossed the wrong people and stepped over the line.
But Molly does seem to have a good soul and you can see she’s going through moral dilemmas especially when it comes to giving up names of individuals in her poker games which could lead to her being free from prosecution.
The movie was a long movie (2 hours, 20 mins) but I enjoyed it till the end.
Molly’s Game was a well written and directed movie and praise has to be given to Aaron Sorkin who has once again delivered a movie almost as good as “The Social Network”.
Yes, you do get that Aaron Sorkin “character dialogues” where the characters seem to have prepped the best speeches in their head and talk like robots with pure eloquence. But besides that, I found Molly’s Game to be riveting and well made. I think I might pick up the book.
If I could give a rating for this movie, I would give it 4 out of 5 stars.
Bonus
Just deviating for a bit. My last few blog posts have been about movie reviews. These last couple of weeks, I’ve found movies to be a great distraction from reality of this life. This has also given me a chance to diversify my writing.
I wouldn’t say it was inspiration from Molly’s Game but I did feel something after watching this movie. In a way, I felt a connection with the Molly Bloom character. Someone who kept pushing herself to be the best, from sports to learning everything about being a pro in Poker.
There was a scene in the movie where Idris Elba’s character is questioning why Molly won’t give up the names and why she is protecting people. He questions why she won’t take a deal which would result in her getting her money which was seized by the police (about $5 million) and getting a chance to walk free of all charges. But she didn’t because she knew that there would be collateral damage and other people not directly involved would be hurt.
I took it personal.
My whole life I’ve played the “background”. I’ve been writing online since 2006. Blogging/reporting, mostly about technology and life in general.
I’ve been writing poetry since I was in the 6th grade. At one point, I thought I wanted to be a songwriter because the rappers on TV were all rich. But it wasn’t about the money. It was about the attention. Just like Molly, I wanted to be the best. Period.
Througout school, I was good, no, GREAT in English. I could write essays and not bother to proof read and got marks of 90 and above over 100. But I just figured it was normal. I didn’t get rewards or anything.
It wasn’t until a school teacher in an Alaskan school where I went to for a year, pulled me aside and told me that an essay that I had written for his US Constitution class was one of the best he had ever read.
The immense pride and feeling that day was one of the best feelings I’ve ever felt and motivated me to become better at writing.
That’s all I want in the end maybe: Recognition but mostly importantly, feedback.
I’ve actually been contemplating “retiring” my writing persona. I don’t get enough feedback so I don’t know if I’m getting better or getting worse as a writer. But the drafts for writing ideas keep piling up and the motivation to write keeps dwindling. It feels like I don’t have the spark anymore.
So this is just an aside to my Molly’s Game review. I really associated with the character and it kind of inspired me to write this section. Hopefully the writing continues.
Hopefully.
