Movie review: Molly's Game (2017)

[Post published by Liviu, on Liviu's [Personal] Blog]

Nota bene: for other movie reviews, click for the dedicated page with movie reviews.

Molly's Game (2017)

[IMDB; en.wikipedia; Molly Bloom (author)]

The first 2/3 of the movie is funny, fast paced, daring, very entertaining...

... but then, although still entertaining, the movie

1. starts dragging a bit at times and
2. focuses on clearing Molly's name:
   • she's an angel,
   • she's so innocent,
   • she's got a good soul,
   • she's a champion,
   • she's not greedy,
   • she has made little money and has declared all of them to the IRS because she wanted everything to be legit,
   • she protects her clients' privacy with the price of her own freedom (why? oh, because she doesn't want to see their families ruined when their dirty secrets get exposed!),
   • she had no idea what she has got into and with whom when organizing high stakes poker games etc.
   Oh, come on! Really? I get she has a lot of dirt about a lot of important and/or wealthy people, including Hollywood celebrities, but the hard effort to clear her name is just too much... What should I do? Pity her? Cry as if I'm watching soap operas? :)) Donate money to her so she does not starve to death? :))
   
   The only thing I'm buying is she has not offered sex for money, because it's obvious it would have been bad for business.

Coherent storyline.

Very good acting.
Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba do a great job.
Out of the other actors with little screen time, I'd mention:

• Kevin Costner, who uses his screen time to the full - excellent play! Best of all.
• Michael Cera - strong impact on the story - I think he portrays Tobey Maguire
• Chris O'Dowd and Brian d'Arcy James, who are so funny...

Follows the Hollywood pattern of a movie targeting the Academy Awards. I'd predict it gets nominated for Best Actress in a Leading Role (Jessica Chastain), Best Actor in a Supporting Role (Idris Elba), Best picture, Best Adapted Screenplay.

Nota bene: I bet Idris Elba gets nominated at the Academy Awards, also given his performance in The Mountain Between Us (2017) [IMDB], which I haven't seen, but, given the trailer and the story etc., I speculate it provides excellent performance from both Elba and Winslet and targets the Academy Awards...

Conclusions

Worth watching. Entertaining.
I wish the last 1/3 of the movie were as good as the first 2/3.