In his (somehow) directorial debut, the non-fiction poker memoir Molly's Game, Aaron Sorkin manages this all in the same way he did for The Social Network: by flitting nimbly between different timelines and settings, explaining the bits that need explaining (like, more than once, the ins-and-outs of poker), and never letting us get comfortable in one time or place for long. The movie is a little exhausting as a result, but it makes up for that with structure and pacing that make Molly's journey a joy to watch.
The full title of the book is Molly's Game: From Hollywood's Elite to Wall Street's Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure in the World of Underground Poker, a personal memoir by Molly Bloom. Her exploits running occasionally illegal, high stakes poker games in LA and New York made her a tabloid sensation--and got her indicted in federal court when Russian mobsters entered the game.
There's a lot of drama not just in Bloom's story, but in the way it unfolds--like her refusal to name most of the individuals involved in her games (which forced her to take a less lucrative book deal as a result), and the fact that her real trouble with the federal government occurred after she published the book. You don't need to know any of that to enjoy Molly's Game the movie, which does an admirable job laying out exactly what's important at any given point in the story.
The movie opens with Bloom's disastrous Olympic skiing incident, wherein she wipes out spectacularly on the slopes. In the very next scene, years later, FBI agents swarm her apartment building and arrest her in the dark, early hours of the morning. At that point you have no concrete idea what she's being arrested for, what happens in the intervening years, or what the outcome will be. How much of the story you know going in will vary depending how closely you followed Bloom's real life saga over the years, but going in blind makes the whole thing more narratively satisfying.
In the movie's version of events, the skiing accident--a true one-in-a-million fluke--set her on a path that she eventually lost control of. She moved to LA, got a job as some Hollywood douchebag's assistant, and eventually found herself running underground poker games attended by big name actors and executives who dropped tens of thousands a night.
Chastain's smartly deployed voiceover narration is usually what prevents Molly's Game from getting mired in the minutiae of gambling laws, poker rules, or its own complicated story. You absolutely believe that this woman found it simple to wrap powerful men around her little finger.
The rest of the main cast comprises Michael Cera as a mysterious, unnamed actor who sat at Molly's table, Kevin Costner as Molly's demanding, strict father, and Idris Elba as her reluctant attorney. Each has one or two great, memorable scenes, although Chastain steals the film.
Molly's Game is dramatic, fast-paced, and often funny. But the most interesting thing it does is paint a picture of Molly Bloom as a whip-smart, enterprising, confident, powerful woman whose ambition took her to some dark places--but whose heart was always in the right place. It's hard not to wonder how warped this narrative has become over the years, as it passed from real events through tabloids, courts, a memoir, and finally, this movie. Like so much of Sorkin's other work, though, it ultimately doesn't matter, because Molly's Game is a good story told in exactly the right way.
| The Good | The Bad |
|---|---|
| Sorkin's fast, stylish writing and directing | Pacing and Sorkin's signature rapid fire dialogue are slightly exhausting |
| Chastain's complex lead performance | |
| Great main cast | |
| Smart plot structure |
from GameSpot http://ift.tt/2lOL5JP
No comments:
Post a Comment