Molly's Game

I will skip the traditional (and justified) criticisms of Sorkin's original monologue-dialog reclamation style, because you either love it or hate it. And the same could be said about this movie. Moreover, Sorkin even highlights his strength (or weakness as you wish). And as a result the aspects that the better directors adapting his material in the past always tent to hide somehow, is even more noticeable here. Anyway, there´s still a lot to be unhappy about. It 's longer than it should be, there' s a lot of stylized passages à la The Big Short with dialogs, which are directed like in a theater. Molly comes out of it too positively (it 's too genteel), her personal life is omitted (which would have been fine if it had not been too obvious that´s essential ) and it lacks a proper ending. Which is related to the fact that it may have come about with too little distance from those events, in other words, not everything is / can be / wants to be said. But at the same time, it is true that Molly's destiny is so captivating and stimulating that it would manage to handle even a significantly worse movie than the one made. In addition, Jessica and Idris are Sorkin's refined replicas and they both obviously enjoy it a lot. And myself as well. (05.01.2018)

Jessica Chastain plays mostly strong female characters in recent years. Her role in Molly’s Game is similar in this aspect but at the same time it is so well done that you will be amazed. The director Aaron Sorkin put so much information into the 140 minutes of the running time that I had problems to understand it all and remember at least parts of it. The storytelling is really straightforward but on the other hand you don’t have time to get bored either. And if you get lost in all the poker terminology, one glance on Jessica will convince you that it doesn’t really matter. Thankfully there was the lawyer played by Idris Elba by her side, because when she couldn’t explain something, he did it for her with a pleasure. Molly’s Game is a great movie. It is lively, fun and it has an unbelievable story. And these films are the best… (29.12.2017)

This time round, Sorkin served up his machine-gun screenplay himself and it must be said that it is Mr. Fincher’s school that had the greatest influence on his style. We jump gracefully in time, the cadence of information is textbook standard and the story doesn’t sacrifice intelligence to emotions. The actors take delight in each line and Pemberton’s music is excellent again. At last the girls have someone to look up to. Great. Table in Excel. (11.02.2018)

Molly’s Game is a movie that takes itself way too seriously considering it contains just one short dramatic scene (a beating at the hands of a mafioso) and thinks itself way too clever given that it needs 20 tortuous seconds of dialogue to express something that could have been said in five (without losing the point). If we don’t want to build on superficial grandeur, but rather want to tell a believable story with sufficient social insight and reflection of the its characters’ morality, this film doesn’t completely succeed. It’s like The Wolf of Wall Street without that film’s satirical insight, wit, energy and the human side of its characters. However, it has plenty of sexy costumes and cleavage to keep you from getting bored. (05.02.2018)

Despite the presence of my favorite actress Jessica Chastain, positive reviews, and feedback, Molly's Game is a film that never captivated me for a single moment and mostly left me puzzled. It's not so much about Jessica's reliable performance as it is about the way the character is written. Secondly, in a short period of time, I felt like the creative team was trying to sell me a feminist drama about a strong woman facing societal pressure. For example, in the case of Happy Valley, that series felt much more convincing and I was able to identify with its protagonist and overlook the feminist tone. In Molly's Game, I perceived the character of Molly Bloom completely differently than Aaron Sorkin did. Not as a victim, but as a manipulative and ambitious bitch who ultimately overestimated her abilities and only with great luck managed to balance her collision with the American legal system. If the film worked with a character type like the one in There Will Be Blood, which is devoid of any idealization and sentimentality, I would take Molly's Game much more seriously. With this film, it seemed to me that despite all the effort to create a strong female character, the film sells costumes by top designers, the actress's physical attractiveness, and her perfect makeup, i.e., the Hollywood gloss. The film may be a problem even for those who don't care about poker, as there is a bit too much of it at the expense of the characters. I'll give it three stars because, despite all my reservations, Sorkin is talented and simply because of Jessica, but it's a very weak three stars. Overall impression: 50%. (04.02.2018)