Molly's Game

Molly’s Game                                                                                                                January 20, 2018

This movie is a patch work of scenes from Molly Bloom’s life. From little Molly learning how to ski, to an Olympic skier, to a novice poker manager, to a high stakes poker entrepreneur, to a felon. These scenes are managed through flash backs but make the narration awkward. The problem with this segmentation is it limits character development. Michael Cera (whose acting is best described as warm milk on a warm day) is Player X in a key poker sequence. The relationship with Molly could have been good or bad, but was equivocal because the scene ended

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Molly, played by Jessica Chastain, is an Olympian skier who suffers a career ending accident. She takes a gap year on her way to law school which lasts about ten years. She becomes an entrepreneur of a high stakes poker attracting film celebrities, athletes and Wall Street titans. Pots are in the hundreds of thousands. The film feels like a docudrama. A lexicon of poker terms are explained  and are quickly forgotten. Little poker cards float in the air displaying winning and losing hand. Like a docudrama Chastain practically narrates the entire movie.

Chastain’s roles vary from rebellious daughter to damaged athlete to a high stakes poker entrepreneur. She gives a good performance, but the material limits her scope. This film lacks pathos. The film’s moral imperative is not whether to publish the Pentagon papers or to seek revenge for a murdered daughter, but to keep Molly in the game and out of prison. The tawdriness of the film is like a gossip magazine.

The two strongest interactions are Chastain with her father and her lawyer. Kevin Costner plays her father as a hard driving perfectionist, whose unyielding parenting drives her away. Costner plays the role cold and detached, not a stretch for him.

 The best scenes are with her lawyer played by Idris Elba. Their interaction is spirted and heated. He is a reluctant lawyer and she an unsympathetic client. The exchange is compelling because he strips her down to the essential and she is vulnerable and needs his help. They have good chemistry.

This is not a movie about pulling yourself out of poverty by your boot straps, but rather balancing yourself on stiletto heels wearing a skin tight mini dress. This movie is more voyeuristic than dramatic. Rather than a must see movie it is at best a nice to see movie.