Like being talked to death by an ex-girlfriend

Rating: 7/10 (21 January 2018)

First of all, this is a well made movie with excellent performances. Both Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba give Oscar worthy performances. Having said that, the movie is overlong and has WAAAY too much talk. From the opening scene, which gives boring details about ski jumping (who cares -- just cut to the accident which ends Molly Bloom's athletic career and get into he story) to endless, endless unnecessary details about poker terminology, where Molly buys her dresses, what brand of liquor she buys. what labels are on the cheese she serves (who cares?). Aaron Sorkin is a hugely talented TV writer and producer but he seems to have ignored the first rule of film-making and that is that you show, don't tell. EVERYTHING that is shown on the screen is explained in voice over by Chastain, who seems to have been forced to read the book aloud as well as act in the movie. The result is a talk-fest that kills any chance this movie might have at the box office in foreign countries, where action takes precedence over dialog. At two hours and twenty minutes this movie is about half an hour too long. Molly Bloom is the kind of role that actresses would kill for but all the damn talk just wears the viewer down. If ever there was a case of over-writing on the part of the writer, this is it. A shame as the story is there, the performances are there but everything is explained down to the minutest detail that leaves the viewer overwhelmed and drowning in the unnecessary verbiage.