Molly's Game

Dir: Aaron Sorkin

2017

*****

With the title Molly's Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World, I think Molly Bloom’s memoir would most likely pass me by as it sounds gossipy and I have no interest in poker, gambling and rich people who indulge in it. However, 2017’s Molly’s Game is one of the most compelling and beautifully written films I’ve seen in a very long time. Mark Gordon's The Mark Gordon Company bought the feature film adaptation rights to Molly Bloom's memoir in 2012. Gordon produced and Aaron Sorkin was hired to adapt the memoir into a screenplay as Bloom had already approached Sorkin, as he was her "favorite writer". Sorkin is a phenomenal writer. Not only has he written the best film about Baseball that isn’t really about Baseball (Moneyball), he is also responsible for one of the most overlooked but beautifully written sitcoms of all time (Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip), creator of the incredible series The West Wing, and is the author of great films such as Charlie Wilson's War, The Social Network and Steve Jobs. Not only that but he wrote the immortal lines “You can’t handle the truth”. Molly’s Game is now among his best work. That said, he had never directed a movie before, so this was still a great gamble (excuse the pun). However, thanks to his on-set experiences, calls of advice from friend David Fincher and tips from actor and director Kevin Costner, his is an amazing directional debut. Sorkin offered Jessica Chastain the lead role in the film before any negotiations and Idris Elba joined the film soon after. Sorkin stated that "the casting of Jessica and Idris in the two lead roles is any filmmaker's dream come true, they're two of the greatest actors of their generation, paired for the first time, and their chemistry is electric.” Michael Cera,Kevin Costner, Brian d'Arcy James, Chris O'Dowd, Jeremy Strong, Bill Camp and Graham Greene were also cast in supporting roles, each one brilliant in their performances. Bloom herself said she was "..blown away by her (Chastain) performance by how right it was and how deep and understood I felt by her performance.” Bloom had requested Chastain from the very beginning. The amazing though is that because of schedules, Elba and Chastain had only ten days to shoot. They shot fourty-five pages in the first six days. They rehearsed off-set before shooting began and between takes, their chemistry and interaction is brilliant. The film features some of the best character-lead narration ever in the history of cinema. Molly Bloom introduces herself as a world-class mogul skier with Olympic aspirations, the result of years of enforced training from her overbearing father (Kevin Costner). Her brothers are also successful sportsmen, her family being very competitive. The intro to the film sees how moments cultivate in a way that sometimes chance can either make you or break you. In a qualifying event for the 2002 Winter Olympics, Molly is severely injured through no fault of her own, ending her skiing career for good and nearly paralyzing her in the process. Instead of following her original plan of attending law school, Molly decides to take a year off and move to Los Angeles. Once she arrives, she becomes a bottle-service waitress at a club, where she meets Dean (Jeremy Strong), an ostentatious but unsuccessful real estate developer. She becomes his office manager, and he soon involves her in running his underground poker games. Many famous and wealthy individuals, such as movie stars, investment bankers, and sports players, are involved in Dean's game. Molly begins to earn large sums of money on tips alone. Molly is initially uninformed on poker topics but quickly learns how to appeal to the players to gain tips. In particular, she hopes to please the most successful player, Player X (Michael Cera), by attracting new players to the game. Dean, upon seeing that Molly is becoming increasingly independent in running the games, attempts to control her, eventually firing her. Molly, having gained contacts through years of running the game, decides to create her own poker games. She rents a penthouse at a hotel and hires a staff to help her run games. Additionally, she contacts employees at clubs and casinos to try and spread word about her poker games. Player X, along with many other players, decides to leave Dean's games to play at Molly's game. Molly becomes increasingly successful, gaining more money while being pressured by Player X to raise the stakes for her games. Harlan Eustice (Bill Camp), a skilled, conservative, and successful player, joins Molly's game. One night, after accidentally losing a hand to the notorious worst player in Molly's circle (played by Brian d'Arcy James), Harlan becomes increasingly compulsive, suffering heavy losses (later, Molly finds out that Player X, who enjoys ruining people's lives more than the game itself, has been funding Harlan to keep him in the game). After Molly berates him for his unethical actions, Player X decides to change venue for his games, and the other players join him, leaving Molly. Molly moves to New York, with the hope of beginning a new underground poker game. After reaching out to many wealthy New Yorkers, Molly finds enough players for several weekly games. Despite continuous success, she fears being unable to cover her losses when players cannot pay. Her dealer convinces her to begin taking a percentage of large pots, allowing her to recoup her potential losses but making her game an illegal gambling operation. One of her Los Angeles players is indicted for running a Ponzi scheme; Molly is investigated and questioned as to who attended her games. At this time, Molly becomes increasingly addicted to drugs, as the games have increasingly taken their toll. Her players also begin to include wealthy individuals from the Russian mafia, among others. She is approached by several Italian mafia members who offer their services to extort money from non-paying players. After she declines, she is attacked in her home, where she is held at gunpoint and her mother's life is threatened. As she is about to return to her poker games, the FBI conducts a raid, a result of Douglas Downey (Chris O'Dowd), one of her players, acting as an informant. Molly's assets are seized, and she returns home to live with her mother. Two years later, Molly has moved out and published a book where she names a few individuals that played in her games. She is arrested by the FBI and indicted for involvement in illegal gambling with the mafia. She enlists the help of Charlie Jaffey, a high-profile and expensive lawyer in New York, who agrees to help after he learns that she has been protecting innocent people who were affected by her poker games. While she is in New York awaiting trial, her father, Larry, seeks her out and attempts to reconcile with her. He admits that he was overbearing and that he treated Molly differently than her brothers because she had known about his affairs. Charlie reads Molly's book and becomes interested in helping her case, as he feels she has not committed serious enough wrongdoing to merit a prison term. Charlie negotiates a deal for Molly to receive no sentence and for her money to be returned in exchange for her hard drives and digital records from gambling. Molly declines this deal, fearing that the information about her players would be released, and she pleads guilty. The judge (Graham Greene), deciding that she had committed no serious crimes, sentences her to community service, probation, and a $200,000 fine. It is quite an amazing story, even more so when you learn that it is true and it happened not so long ago. The narrative is brilliantly written and the story goes back and forth, highlighting the aspects of Molly’s story that, rather ironically, make her life appear just like a game of poker. Everything counts and not a moment is wasted or is unimportant. It is about as finely crafted as a film could be. It hasn’t received half the acknowledgment that it deserved. Player X is supposedly a composite of several Hollywood celebrity gamblers from Molly's ring but everyone knows it is Tobey Maguire and watching him admit that he isn’t a good gambler, he just likes ruining people’s lives is golden. The script is second to none, in fact I can’t think of one aspect of the film that isn’t perfect. It is as faultless as it is thrilling.