Molly's Game

Rating: 7/10 (14 January 2018)

I saw the trailer for this movie before the end of 2017, it looked interesting, then I realised it would be a contender during the upcoming Awards Season, so that gave me more reason to watch it, it is the directorial debut of writer Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The West Wing, The Social Network, Steve Jobs). Based on the memoir Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker by Molly Bloom. Basically Molly Bloom (Golden Globe nominated Jessica Chastain) as a young woman was a competitive skier, at one time ranked third in North America for women's skiers, but she was forced to stop after an accident whilst competing, due to the curvature in her spine. In her search for a new career in Los Angeles, Molly finds a job working for Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong), doing odd jobs, then she discovers the world of poker, and the fortunes it could bring. Using contacts from Dean's mobile phone, she invites a number of wealthy men, and some celebrities, to a high-stakes poker game, she uses the help of the internet to help her work out all the rules and regulations to make sure it runs smoothly. Having made a tidy sum on her first night, Molly decides to create an underground poker empire, renting a premise and hiring high class women as waitresses, her players include Hollywood celebrities, athletes, business titans and the Russian mob. Molly makes sure to go through all the channels to make sure what she is doing is completely legal, she soon gains a number of regular players, who are prepared to gamble and potentially lose fortunes, both the good and the bad players. Soon enough, it becomes apparent that what she is doing may not be strictly legal, so she moves to New York City to set up a new ongoing poker game business, renting hotel rooms, but no longer inviting celebrities. Of course, Molly runs into a number of problems, trouble with the Russian mob, facing bankruptcy, and she delves into drinking and taking illegal drugs, until finally she decides to end her business for good. A decade later however, Molly is arrested in the middle of the night by the FBI, and brought in for questioning, facing federal charges, for money laundering and illegal sport gambling operation, her only ally is criminal defence lawyer Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba). However, her only support believes there is much more to the story of the poker empire Molly had than the tabloids reported, and that she has written in her book, so he presses her to reveal everything that she has left out. In the end, following a court session, Judge Foxman (Graham Greene) drops the numerous charges, deciding that there are more serious crimes to be examined, Molly is fined $1,000, and sentenced to a year probation, and 200 hours community service. Also starring Kevin Costner as Larry Bloom, Michael Cera as Player X, Chris O'Dowd as Douglas Downey, Bill Camp as Harlan Eustice, Brian d'Arcy James as Brad and Claire Rankin as Charlene Bloom. Chastain looks glamorous and is fantastic as the Olympic skier turned casino queen, nicknamed the "poker princess", Elba is great support as the sceptical lawyer, and special mention goes to Costner as the overbearing father, his best scene is on the bench with his daughter, where they are both brutally honest with each other. You don't necessarily have to know a lot about poker, I certainly don't, but knowledge about the complexities of business and making money will help, what could have been a dry and complicated matter is given life by the fast-paced editing and a snappy script full of razor-sharp dialogue, a terrific crime drama. It was nominated the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for Aaron Sorkin, it was nominated the BAFTA for Best Adapted Screenplay, and it was nominated the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay. Very good!