Great Execution, but Lacks Soul

Rating: 8/10 (11 January 2018)

NOTES
Despite falling a bit short of my expectations I was impressed with this film, and I give it a solid B. Aaron Sorkin's screenplay is sharp, Jessica Chastain gave a powerful performance, and Idris Elba takes his role to a level only he can. I found a few problems with the direction and the way it all came together and the overall message of the film, but the performances and dialogue within the film were top notch.
REVIEW
"Molly's Game" is Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut, who is famous for writing "West Wing," "The Social Network," "The Newsroom," "Moneyball," and "Steve Jobs" just to name a few. Expectations were high. The film is based on the book Molly's Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World. Molly Bloom grew up in a competitive family - her father was a psychology professor, her brother was an Olympic skier and then an NFL player. Molly herself was a competitive skier, who once nearly had a "shot at the podium" in the Olympics. We learn within the first few minutes of the film that at an early age she was diagnosed with a spinal disorder and had to go through extensive operations to correct it, yet despite this she went on skiing in hopes to make her father proud. At her big moment she suffered a horrible fall when one of her skis came off right before a jump and her dreams of the world stage were dashed. This moment catapulted the rest of her life into a completely different direction. After taking some time off to mope she moved to Los Angeles to wait tables at a nightclub, which is where she met Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong) and quickly became his personal assistant. As her assistant she was in charge of organizing his weekly underground poker games, which became a lucrative gig for her in tips, given most of the players are celebrities and/or wealthy businessmen. After running the games successfully for a while she and Keith have a falling out over finances and she begins running her own games. This is where the trouble starts. In order to run the games she stretches herself thin, fueling herself with drugs just to keep going, all the while becoming more and more successful in the underground world of poker. The thing is, she runs completely legal, legitimate games - no rake, nothing, until finally due to players being unable to payout she is forced to take a rake on a particularly expensive pot. Years later she writes a book about her story, and consequently is arrested by the FBI. No lawyer wants to take her case, which is where Charlie Jaffey comes in (played by a spectacular Idris Elba). He takes her case, and together the two weave back through time combing over her entire career looking for ways to get her off while still upholding Bloom's incredibly high standards of personal integrity.
Long summary? Longer film, ultimately not in its own favor. Sorkin attempts to cover a lot of ground here, and because he's Sorkin, he doesn't like to do anything on the surface, which kind of works against him. It's an interesting piece of filmmaking for several reasons. The writing is superb, and Sorkin as the director steps back and lets Sorkin the writer drive the film. Usually first-time directors want to make a splash or create a signature, and so the directing is bold or edgy, but Sorkin does just the opposite. Director Sorkin becomes the Ringo Starr in the back letting the talent (writer Sorkin) upfront shine while he simply provides a beat. I wanted some style, some flair, especially in the beginning - when Bloom is introducing herself and her story to the audience. The writing is so great, I feel that in the hands of a skilled director, it would have been a truly memorable intro, but it isn't. The camera simply stays put - there aren't any sweeping pans or creative movements to add to the excitement, Sorkin lets the writing and the performances (and the costumes, which were very well done) do all the work, and I found that choice left the film lacking. As a person who loves films and the intellectuality of filmmaking, I loved watching all the performances fill the stage, but as a viewer I didn't really learn anything - it took a long time to get to the heart and once we got there I didn't find much. I didn't learn much about life or myself. It was disappointing. The film and the story lacked soul.
The performances were incredible. Even Michael Cera, who isn't known for taking serious roles, as Player X, who helps Bloom transition from running Keith's games to running her own games, played an excellent part. He delivers his lines with such a coy air it's chilling at times. Kevin Costner plays the role of Bloom's father and he gives a good performance reminiscent of his role as Jonathan Kent in "Man of Steel," but nothing that grabs the hearts of the viewers. He doesn't detract from the film, but he doesn't add anything either. Elba, who plays Bloom's lawyer elevates his role from a supporting slot to stand out performance. He doesn't have nearly as much screen time as Chastain, but I feel as if the movie is centered around the two of them even though Elba's character doesn't enter until the movie is halfway through. Chastain is perfect in this role. The character demands an attractive, charismatic woman, and Chastain nails it. As Bloom she is youthful, driven, and hyper-ambitious, but with subtly leads the audience to imagine that just beneath the surface she is vulnerable and maybe even fragile. Chastain follows Robert De Niro's acting advice when he said that the best actors don't focus on what to show the audience, but rather focus on what to hide.
Overall, the film's writing and its two leads (Chastain and Elba) are the reasons to see this film. I did expect more from Sorkin, but he didn't disappoint in the writing category, which to be fair, is his area of expertise. The film is too long, but I could watch Chastain and Elba go on spitting out incredibly witty dialogue for hours, so I didn't mind the length at all. The film lacked style and the directing was stutter step, but it did offer a great blank canvas-platform for the acting performances. Also, and this is how good of a writer Sorkin is, he created a cameo (not an homage, not a piece of reference, but an actual cameo) for The Crucible, and it worked! I don't know how you make a cameo for a play, but Sorkin did, and he pulled it off.
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