Molly’s Game – I was looking forward to Molly’s Game for a number of reasons. First, Aaron Sorkin’s screenplay and directorial debut, Jessica Chastain as the title character, and lastly, my ex-husband was a talented card player: poker, duplicate bridge, and blackjack.
There are a number of great films whose subject is gambling: The Hustler, The Cincinnati Kid, The Sting, The Cooler and Hard Eight to name a few of my personal favorites. Some of the casting was pitch perfect, beginning with Chastain, Michael Cera as Mr. X, playing against type, Idris Elba as Molly’s attorney, and the supporting cast, Jeremy Strong and Chris O’Dowd. On the flip side, Kevin Costner as Molly’s father didn’t work for me, some of it due to the writing, his character’s one-dimensional mansplaining, controlling behavior, and general unlikability. Lastly, my dislike of Costner’s full-of-himself presence in all of his performances (yes, I’m biased). The film is based on a true story and going in, Molly Bloom is clearly the protagonist who we will be rooting for, unfortunately Sorkin as screenwriter and director, layers on too much narration, too many fast-paced lines of dialogue, and not enough show, not tell. I missed the tension and drama displayed in the card play found in most gambling films. Without revealing any spoilers, the ending was not the payoff the build-up was leading to. When Molly Bloom should have had the last word, other characters (men in this case) spoke for her, which for me defeated the whole theme of the story. I lay the blame on Sorkin. Unfortunately, it’s a film in my view that could have been so much more impactful.
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