Molly's Game

Ten years on since one of the last decade's best films, The Social Network, I was interested in watching writer, Aaron Sorkin's first attempt at directing with Molly's Game from 2017, starring Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba. Based on a true story, Chastain plays Molly Bloom who became an FBI target while running exclusive poker games and Elba plays the lawyer tasked with defending her.

No one quite does dialogue like Sorkin; his sharply written walk-and-talk style introduced in The West Wing series has made him one of those names to look out when judging whether a film is worth a watch. Having also penned the likes of A Few Good Men, Moneyball and Steve Jobs, I've always enjoyed his work but Molly's Game would be the test to see whether the director's chair was for him. I knew very little about the story going in, having seen the trailer a few years ago before the film's release, and I really wanted to like this. Sorkin even earned an Oscar nomination for his work here but does the film stand-up.

Beginning with Molly's early career as an Olympic skier, we're introduced to a voice-over, quick editing and a wealth of information as Chastain fills us in with every little detail before jumping between timelines as we learn how Molly's life went upside down as the FBI caught onto her. I was engaged right from the get-go and Sorkin has a way of delivering tonnes of information but somehow making it easily digestible but there was just something lacking by the ending to make it as strong a film as I had hoped it to be.

Chastain still wins the film in a very good performance but the final act required a game changing moment to make the overall story interesting. Sorkin and the team do a great job for the most part but it seems we're supposed to like Molly more than I felt we should which might explain my indifference towards the end.

Molly's Game is still a very entertaining drama and no one quite does legal films as well as Sorkin. The man himself also proves to be more than capable in the directing chair, with great performances from the two main stars, and I can still easily recommend this even if it wasn't quite as great as I had hoped for.