Day 132 - Molly's Game



Day 132          Molly’s Game [2017]
                          
Screenplay                    Aaron Sorkin
Based on                       ‘Molly’s Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World’ by Molly Bloom
Director                         Aaron Sorkin
Cinematography            Charlotte Bruus Christensen
Music                            Daniel Pemberton
Leads                            Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Chris O’Dowd, Jeremy Strong, Bill Camp
Production                     The Mark Gordon Company, Pascal Pictures, Ciwen Pictures, Huayi Brothers Pictures, STXfilms

IMDb                                 7.5/10
Rotten Tomatoes                82%

Can someone please enlighten me as to why Idris Elba is such a popular actor? I do not rate him at all in anything except for The Wire, Luther and maybe RocknRolla if I’m being generous. I just had to get that off my chest as I felt the casting in this wasn’t good, apart from the awesome Jessica Chastain who of course plays Molly Bloom, poker princess. The long-winded title of the book this film is based on tells you all you need to know about the plot. I don’t know how true to the book or to the truth this film stays but it’s a cool story despite the horribly cheesy moments. You’ve got to be careful when making a film with the main character narrating not to make them sound showy and I’m afraid at times I was squirming in my seat. I think the ‘I’m very hard to kill’ line got me the worst. The whole notion of the fact she’s falling on her sword is stupid, she was in the wrong, doing something dodgy – what did she expect? For large portions at the movie she seems surprised that she was ever in the wrong because she was doing everything ‘legally’ due to taking tips rather than a rake. I mean come on Molly, you attack these men at the start for taking the power away from you and then you take it right back yourself. It also annoyed me how much she felt the need to protect these men to save her name. These men had been doing horrible things and they probably deserved to have their lives ruined and yet she protected them for the respect of her name? She is an enabler. Poker is a great game, so I couldn’t help but love the whole film just for that reason. The bit where ‘Bad Brad’ wins a hand by mistake was gold. I also really enjoyed that this film contained no romantic element to it. You would have thought that the beautiful poker hostess would have found a man along the way, and even if she didn’t Hollywood might have written it in, but no the film is about Molly and Molly alone. There is no man helping her with her problems or making her a sexual object. Too many films have that cliché and I was glad Sorkin didn’t write anything in. It’s a decent film but there was too much cheese and self-righteousness along the way.

Acting                           2.5 / 4
Writing                             3 / 4
Cinematography            2.5 / 4
Music                               2 / 4
HWF rating               2.5 / 4

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