Dog’s Movie House: “Molly’s Game” Unfocused But Entertaining!

Howdy Folks!  It’s The Kendog!

Jessica Chastain As Molly Bloom In “Molly’s Game”

Aaron Sorkin is one of the most talented writers in entertainment.  He’s written scripts for such incredible films as “A Few Good Men” and “The Social Network” and was the creative mind behind the television hit “The West Wing.”  He’s never actually directed a film until now.  With “Molly’s Game” the true story of “Poker Princess” Molly Bloom, he gets to direct a radiant Jessica Chastain from his own script and the result is a highly entertaining, if slightly unfocused film.

“Molly’s Game” tells the tale of the aforementioned Miss Bloom, who went from world-class skier (an unfortunate accident derailed her Olympic dream) to running poker games for some of the biggest celebs and moneymen in the world in both Los Angeles and New York.  It also tells of her arrest by the FBI for allowing Russian mobsters into her New York game and her attempts to defend herself using an ultra-honest lawyer named Charlie Jaffey (Idris Elba).

The movie is told in a series of flashbacks, with Bloom (Chastain) providing crackling narration that manages to sound much more natural than its expository nature.  This being a Sorkin script, everyone talks like the smartest person in the room.  Characters say what the audience wishes they could say but never could without, you know, a script.  We see the earlier years with Bloom as a skier, being pushed and manipulated by her psychiatrist father (a very good Kevin Costner).  We see her early days as an office assistant for a douche canoe named Dean Keith (Jeremy Strong) and we see her organize her first poker games for Keith.  We then see her leaving Keith and organizing her own game with the help of a movie-star poker play who goes by the name of Player X (Michael Cera, matching Chastain’s energy jolt for jolt).  In between this narrative, we see Bloom and Jaffey talk about Bloom’s defense, her book and even Jaffey’s daughter’s high school assignment consisting of the reading of “The Crucible.’

The question as to whether Bloom gets out of her legal mess without doing any prison time isn’t nearly as interesting as the cataloguing of the events that get her to this point.  Chastain is amazing here as a driven, self-contained woman who is constantly outsmarting the big boy moneymen by succeeding amongst them.  Chastain’s Bloom is something of a hard-ass, yet feeling enough to argue with Jaffey about whether or not to turn over her hard drives to the FBI because she doesn’t want the people involved in the game to have their lives ruined.  She’s also very easy on the eyes, and that sexualized (she refers to herself as the Cinemax version) image is very important to her ability to keep her male customers off-balance.  The fact that she spends most of her time in outfits that barely contain her, ahem, assets serves the movie and the character, but I have to admit as a red-blooded male, it was distracting as hell.  Let’s just say I wouldn’t have lasted long as a cool, calculating poker shark with her in the room.

While it’s Chastain’s movie, Elba and Cera are fantastic, with Costner providing some very real motivation as Molly’s father, especially toward the end of the picture.  Bill Camp does some fine acting as Harlan Eustice, a poker player who loses his mind after a bad beat and ends up in a downward spiral that serves as a gambler’s cautionary tale within the framework of the movie.  The performances and the dialogue are the best things about this film.

What may not work is the fact that the movie ambles around for well over two hours, making it something of an endurance test for audiences used to a less leisurely pace in their movies.  Also the movie paints Molly as something of a saintly sort during the last half hour or so, working too hard to make the audience root for her even though she broke the law and had no trouble admitting it to her attorney.  It’s as if the Sorkin wants you to feel sorry for Molly because she broke the law a little less than the mobsters the FBI really wanted.  It feels a little at odds with the rest of the movie given how ruthless and mercenary Bloom is for the rest of the picture.  Also worth noting is the emphasis on poker jargon during much of the middle of the film.  If you are not into poker and have no knowledge of the game’s terminology you will be quite confused and most likely,  “Molly’s Game” is not for you.

However, if you like a smart, solid script with a great performance by one of our more talented young actors, then you’ll find a lot to enjoy in “Molly’s Game.”  It’s got verbal wordplay to spare and it’s a cinch we’ll see Jessica Chastain come Oscar time.  3 1/2 Out Of 5 On Kendog’s Barkometer!   So Sayeth The Kendog! 

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