Molly's Game

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%. (02/04/2018)

Just as watching a film from the normalization era doesn’t turn me into an avid communist, I don't become a seasoned criminal when watching stories about "heroes" from the underground world, so I can safely say that I really enjoyed the one hundred and forty minutes of gambling/money-laundering with Molly. The running time seemed terrifying, but unlike other similarly long films, it didn't bore me, and the plot was interesting from start to finish. A well deserved five stars. (01/06/2019)

The perfect Jessica Chastain in another of the roles she is good at - the role of a woman who goes after what she wants and most of the other characters serve as a rug on that journey. It is a pleasure to listen to the dialogues written by Aaron Sorkin, but he also managed to direct in such a way that I didn’t even notice that two and a quarter hours had passed. I can't fail to mention Idris Elba, who was Jessica Chastain's equal acting partner and acts as good as Morgan Freeman in his best form, Kevin Costner in a smaller but very important role, and also as always the perfect music of Daniel Pemberton. (07/11/2021)

This is a film about how Jessica Chastain is a great actress, but it has to be admitted that actors like Idris Elba, Kevin Costner and Michael Cera also belong here. However, Jessica stands out so much that she just outshines them. She really is more than just beautiful - she's great! This story suited her perfectly. The spitefulness of almost the entire film is pleasant. (01/28/2018)

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… (12/29/2017)