Molly's Game

The centre of the galaxy smells like rum and raspberries. I learned this yesterday. I also realised that I know next to nothing about poker. The rules or the etiquette. There's a lot of both. A lot. I learned all this watching Molly's Game. Written and Directed by Aaron Sorkin, this is the true story of Molly Bloom and her ultra exclusive high stakes poker games that were the talk of Los Angeles and New York.

Molly Bloom was a promising skier until a simple accident shattered her Olympic dreams. She moved to LA for work and before long was hosting high stakes poker games filled with the cream of the Los Angeles celebrity scene and it gave her a taste of the high life. It also brought her into contact with the lowlifes at the periphery of the underground poker scene and it wasn't long before her rising stature brought her to the attention of people on either side of the law.

Molly's Game is an overlong and ultimately pretty hollow film filled with unlikeable characters. But it's saved by an immense performance from Jessica Chastain. She carries the film with style and grace. Her character, while not always perfect, is an honest breath of air in a sea of scum. She's plays a woman who's life has been shaped by domineering men, her Da, her boss and her business partners and try as she might she can't get away from them. So she has to develop a tough exterior but spikes of warmth still shine through especially with people she cares about. Molly is a complex, layered character and Chastain brings her to life brilliantly.

It's just a pity the rest of the film doesn't keep up with her. Sorkin's trademark rapid dialogue gets old fast and if you aren't a poker whiz you might get lost fast which gets a bit frustrating. The film's theme of how hard it is for a woman in a masculine arena is one that needs to be heard but the setting and the sheer amount of unlikeable characters and their attitude to money gave, for me, the whole thing an air of so what. It's just hard to care about rich people problems. And then the ending made it all seem a bit pointless on top of that. But the main problem is the running time. It's 140 minutes long and it's totally unnecessary. The film's use of flashbacks and present day scenes pads out the story and there's no real need for it at all. It gives Elba some nice scenes but at the end of the day the story is Molly's and should have been kept that way. It's never a good sign when you start looking at your watch during a movie.

There's some good in here though. Alongside Chastain there's a fine cast. Idris Elba is his reliable self as Charlie Jaffey, the lawyer who takes Molly's case. Kevin Costner as her Da Larry is good as always. Costner is fast becoming a go to and reliable paternal presence in films and I for one am always delighted to see him pop up. Michael Cera as Player X (an unnamed composite of several celebrity poker players) makes for a great bastard. I've never seen this side of him before and it's a nice change to the quivering nice guys he usually plays.

This has been released during the award season but I can't see it picking up much traction. Jessica Chastain might get some acting nods but as good as she is in this I can't see her winning anything. The rest of the film around her just isn't good enough.

Worth watching for Chastain's magnetic performance but there just isn't much else here.