Molly's Game

All in. 

Prior to seeing Molly’s Game, I wasn’t very excited about this film that landed during the most competitive movie month of the year. The trailer edits seemed to emphasize a soulless Jessica Chastain proving she could “be tough.” I know this already ; she was credible and awesome in Zero Dark Thirty.

I got the cards wrong. 

Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut features Chastain effortlessly playing a complicated character who occasionally has some Sorkin-quality speeches to share. She plays real-life poker princess Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who later ran the exclusive high-stakes poker games for the rich and famous — and caught the eye of the FBI. 

Sorkin directs the film in the same energetic pace of his own dialogue. Although he won’t be credited with inventing anything new as director, his tricks and cheats work. His storytelling devices borrow heavily from films such as The Big Short (2015) and The Wolf of Wall Street (2013), keeping this story fast-paced — despite the reliance on flashbacks, trade explanations and voiceovers. 

It’s an energetic, captivating, true story that won’t change your life, but it will have you Googling stuff for two hours after. (Tobey Maquire, Leonardo DiCaprio and Ben Affleck is the answer to your first google.) I’d call that ten buck worthy. 

In a nutshell: With a witty script and rat-a-tat-tat editing, it delivers a good hand for a lively night at the movies. It's a nice break in a sea of serious films.
 
Award potential: It’s a good film, but not one of the year’s 10 best so don’t expect a nomination for Best Picture or first-time director Sorkin. Sorkin will likely receive a nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay.

In past years, Chastain’s portrayal of Bloom and her Cinemax-style fashion would be as Oscar-bound as Julia Roberts turn in Erin Brockovich (2000), but it is the sixth best performance this year in a category that is locked. 

Her inclusion would mean a shutout for Sally Hawkins, Frances McDormand, Margot Robbie, Saoirse Ronan or Meryl Streep. I wouldn’t take that bet.

The ten buck review: Worth ten bucks.