Molly’s Game – Movie Review

Molly’s Game – R
Release Date: Fri 5 January 2018

Aaron Sorkin makes his directorial debut with his adaptation of Molly Bloom’s book of the same name. What happens when a writer known for his whip-smart, fast talking characters also directs a movie?

Had the trailers or the opening credits not told me this was written by Aaron Sorkin I would have just as easily believed it. The writing is good – great even. But moreover it’s an incredibly tight story told with expert precision. One feels that the movie could have fallen apart if it’s screenwriter wasn’t there every day protecting every domino to fall in the right way at the right time.

And holding most of those dominoes is Jessica Chastain as Molly. Her narration holds the whole movie together and we hang on every word. She explains things we need to know. Even when not on screen her voice is always there pushing things forward. Much of the narration is couched as telling her story to her defense lawyer played by Idris Elba. Kevin Costner mostly works with the younger actresses portraying different parts of Molly’s childhood save for one devastating conversation with Chastain’s Molly that cements her as the sympathetic lead she is – despite her criminal activity.

Molly’s Game came out in the rush of “Oscar-bait” that always hit at the year end and probably was off a lot of people’s radar. It’s a fantastic movie that I recommend seeing in theaters.

Hannah and I saw it in the theater and had a discussion in the car: