Molly's Game

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. (28/01/2018)

The way Aaron Sorkin works with the medium of film, script-wise, is fascinating. I understand that some may see it as Sorkin almost "raping" the film medium in places, and actually "just" pushing the envelope with extremely structured dialogue, but that would be too simplistic. Emotionally, I saw it as almost a "scientific work" at times, with surgically precise details and monologues/dialogues crammed with an incredible amount of information. The opening scene alone is a massacre and a hell of a workout in terms of your attention if you yearn to take in everything. Of course, this directorial debut isn't without its faults, because despite the polished dialogue, the whole thing loses pace in a few places and the character work is a bit underdeveloped here and there. Still, it's an incredible ride, backed up by the perfect Jessica Chastain (the MILF designation takes on a whole new meaning), who really just shines here, acting and otherwise. A strong 4 stars. (28/06/2018)

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. (11/07/2021)

Molly’s Game is a movie that takes itself way too seriously considering it contains just one short dramatic scene (a beating at the hands of a mafioso) and thinks itself way too clever given that it needs 20 tortuous seconds of dialogue to express something that could have been said in five (without losing the point). If we don’t want to build on superficial grandeur, but rather want to tell a believable story with sufficient social insight and reflection of the its characters’ morality, this film doesn’t completely succeed. It’s like The Wolf of Wall Street without that film’s satirical insight, wit, energy and the human side of its characters. However, it has plenty of sexy costumes and cleavage to keep you from getting bored. (05/02/2018)

I will skip the traditional (and justified) criticisms of Sorkin's original monologue-dialog reclamation style, because you either love it or hate it. And the same could be said about this movie. Moreover, Sorkin even highlights his strength (or weakness as you wish). And as a result the aspects that the better directors adapting his material in the past always tent to hide somehow, is even more noticeable here. Anyway, there´s still a lot to be unhappy about. It 's longer than it should be, there' s a lot of stylized passages à la The Big Short with dialogs, which are directed like in a theater. Molly comes out of it too positively (it 's too genteel), her personal life is omitted (which would have been fine if it had not been too obvious that´s essential ) and it lacks a proper ending. Which is related to the fact that it may have come about with too little distance from those events, in other words, not everything is / can be / wants to be said. But at the same time, it is true that Molly's destiny is so captivating and stimulating that it would manage to handle even a significantly worse movie than the one made. In addition, Jessica and Idris are Sorkin's refined replicas and they both obviously enjoy it a lot. And myself as well. (05/01/2018)