Molly's Game

Name: Molly's Game
Genre: Biography, Drama, Crime
Released: December 25, 2017
Duration: 140 min
Rating: 71
Cast: Angela Gots, Bill Camp, Bo Martyn, Brian d'Arcy James, Chris O'Dowd

2017

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 46 Critic Reviews

See All

USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 250 Ratings

See All

7.4

VOTE NOW

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10

7.4	Your Score
7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 250 Ratings

Would you like to write a review?

There is a 75 character minimum for reviews. If your review contains spoilers, please check the Spoiler box. Please do not use ALL CAPS. There is no linking or other HTML allowed. Your review may be edited for content. 0/5000

Check box if your review contains spoilers

Play Sound

Please enter your birth date to watch this video:

You are not allowed to view this material at this time.

Molly's Game: Capping Your Tips

Now Playing: Molly's Game: Capping Your Tips

Movie Details & Credits

STX Entertainment | Release Date: December 25, 2017 | R

Starring: Angela Gots, Bill Camp, Bo Martyn, Brian d'Arcy James, Chris O'Dowd, Graham Greene, Idris Elba, J.C. MacKenzie, Jeremy Strong, Jessica Chastain, Joe Keery, Jon Bass, Kevin Costner, Madison McKinley, Michael Cera, Natalie Krill, Rachel Skarsten, Samantha Isler

Summary: Molly's Game is the true story of Molly Bloom a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally,Molly's Game is the true story of Molly Bloom a beautiful, young, Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game for a decade before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars, business titans and finally, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mob. Her only ally was her criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffey, who learned that there was much more to Molly than the tabloids led us to believe. … Expand

Director: Aaron Sorkin

Genre(s): Biography, Drama, Crime

Rating: R

Runtime: 140 min

See All Details and Credits

Watch Now

Buy on

Stream On

Expand

Metascore

Positive:

Mixed:

Negative:

Critic Reviews

100

Richard Roeper

Dec 24, 2017

Few actors on the planet can shift gears as effortlessly as Chastain, who perfectly captures Molly’s chameleon-like ability to adapt to situations and to rationalize her worst behavior. Read full review

Calvin Wilson

Jan 4, 2018

This is a “Game” that couldn’t be more fun to watch. Read full review

Tomris Laffly

Dec 21, 2017

A sharply judged edit stitches together three separate timelines, shaping Molly as a complex and razor-sharp character in a world dominated by entitled mansplainers. Forget Rounders—here’s a poker movie to go all-in on. Read full review

Mike D'Angelo

Dec 15, 2017

The same fundamental strengths and weaknesses — the former usually outweighing the latter, happily — are evident in all of his movies, no matter who’s in charge. A master like Fincher can add some visual zing, but the song remains the same. Read full review

Brian Truitt

Dec 22, 2017

When Sorkin does go off on side episodes, they’re for the greater good. Molly’s dealings with a nihilistic and smarmy A-list movie star (Michael Cera), a gambler (Bill Camp) who loses his cool, and the drunk Irishman (Chris O‘Dowd) responsible for pulling the Russian mafia into her games actually boost the overall narrative rather than cannibalize it. Read full review

Wendy Ide

Sep 16, 2017

The scenes that Chastain and Elba share are enormously enjoyable. There’s a crackling, almost screwball quality to their rapid-fire banter. You rather wish they had more screen time together. But there’s a lot of backstory to explore and many fools to be parted from their money. Read full review

Jake Cole

Sep 10, 2017

There's a blank space at the core of Molly's Game that the protagonist cannot fill, unable as she is to represent anything beyond her esoteric narrative of unorthodox self-actualization. Read full review

SEE ALL 46 REVIEWS

Write a Review

User Reviews

Jdank

Sep 21, 2020

I had high expectations going into this movie based off the actors in it and the reviews and it blew me out of the water. What a great movie

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

GinaK

Dec 25, 2017

I would give Molly’s Game very high marks for Jessica Chastain’s gutsy performance alone, but I also have to praise her very strong supporting cast, which includes Idris Elba (her charming and smart lawyer), and the fascinating group of colorful high-stakes poker personalities who patronizeI would give Molly’s Game very high marks for Jessica Chastain’s gutsy performance alone, but I also have to praise her very strong supporting cast, which includes Idris Elba (her charming and smart lawyer), and the fascinating group of colorful high-stakes poker personalities who patronize her games, along with the glamorous and smart women who help her make the games work. The film is fast-paced, absorbing and suspenseful, as we follow Molly from one dangerous high-stakes poker venue to the next until the mafia and then the government finally catch up with her. I would only criticize the film for being a tad too long and occasionally too high-energy, which sometimes makes it hard to follow, although that the pace perfectly mirrors Molly’s hectic high-wire life as she constantly dares to make the games both more daring and more lucrative. A fun film without too pat a moral that makes you hunger to know what she will do for an encore.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

jgzeger

Jan 25, 2018

I'm truly puzzled why this very intelligent movie didn't get better reviews overall as it is of high quality and very entertaining with one of the best performances by Jessica Chastain that I have seen.

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

BrianMcCritic

Jan 7, 2018

A film that of course has terrific dialogue and has a great performance from Jessica Chastain. For most of the 2 hour 20 minute run time I was captivated but there were times where the film got bogged down and it could have been a bit shorter. Idris Elba and Kevin Costner are also great inA film that of course has terrific dialogue and has a great performance from Jessica Chastain. For most of the 2 hour 20 minute run time I was captivated but there were times where the film got bogged down and it could have been a bit shorter. Idris Elba and Kevin Costner are also great in supporting roles. Overall while not perfect I still admired Aaron Sorkin's directorial debut. A-… Expand

3 of 4 users found this helpful31

shoulderoforion

Jan 17, 2018

Molly's Game was better than I expected it to be without reaching great status. The story was a good one, and not one I had been privy to while it was playing out in the media & courts. Had heard some scuttlebutt about Hollywood poker, but that's about it. This fleshed all that out, andMolly's Game was better than I expected it to be without reaching great status. The story was a good one, and not one I had been privy to while it was playing out in the media & courts. Had heard some scuttlebutt about Hollywood poker, but that's about it. This fleshed all that out, and also gave a new interesting look into the world of private high stakes games that happen every night, every where. Recommended but just missed on Irdis' accent & Chastain's acting… Expand

0 of 3 users found this helpful03

TrevorsView

Jan 12, 2018

Meet Molly Bloom. Twelve years after a stray branch ended her Olympic skiing career in a crash, her illegal gambling operation sent her on trial. From her teen life onward, she has had no heroes, nor does she trust anyone; thus she started to rebel against male domination through anMeet Molly Bloom. Twelve years after a stray branch ended her Olympic skiing career in a crash, her illegal gambling operation sent her on trial. From her teen life onward, she has had no heroes, nor does she trust anyone; thus she started to rebel against male domination through an operation in games of poker in 2003. Her routine attracted countless players across the nation, plus celebrities Ben Affleck, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Tobey Maguire. As she managed these hot-headed men, eyeshadow and mascara buried her face, perhaps designed to complement the various displays of all that her beautiful cleavage can do.

In the first five minutes of Molly’s Game, you learn her traits beyond being a stereotypical steamy Vegas chick, thanks to the famous actress in Molly’s role. Jessica Chastain’s (The Help, Zero Dark Thirty) smooth husky voiceover narration sucks you in right away, a portrayal depicting the true anti-wife identified by her greed. Then once the worst thing hits her operation, Chastain slows down her expressions into a sad conflicted face.

You learn lots of information about the other people she meets in the way they talk down at each other. Each connection made between the characters starts off effectively tense, driven by gender dominance, then several later turn quite personal, guaranteed to sway you parents out there. Molly’s court attorney even forced his daughter to read The Crucible, setting off common daddy issues between the two that creates a more believable relationship. Idris Elba (Beasts of No Nation), one of the film’s several noteworthy actors, deserves some well-earned awards buzz from the way he plays off Chastain as the court attorney.

Molly’s autobiography of the same name, adapted by Aaron Sorkin (A Few Good Men, The Social Network) fluidly translates clever informative expositions, beyond just the chilly narrative dialogue, into a nonlinear narrative which explains around poker’s rules to describe Molly's legal case. The dialogue focuses in on everyone’s discussion about the law in relation to convincing Molly about the true worst thing ever. Case in point: one consultant tells her at the start of her operation, “Don’t break the law while breaking the law.”

It’s quite transparent however that Sorkin is a first-time director: his efforts to generate sympathy, as much as it accomplishes the job’s necessities, pays off relatively little to match the genuine intended joy on Molly’s part. The fast edit cuts spliced amongst still images and historical tapes straight up copies the visual style of The Big Short, except with bland pacing alongside an often-defocused camera. Ultimately, the visual decisions around Molly scrambles the subject of people’s worship without enough originality.

Molly’s grudges against the Russian mafia likewise draw back the experience a bit further, as if they’re merely plot devices in service of Vladimir Putin. In fact, through actions like the large amounts of Molly’s chest shown or the spicy descriptions about poker, Sorkin falls victim to the “Male Gaze,” meaning the way men and women dress/behave/etc. in the media caters to men’s sexual urges. Such a movie about a woman could have used a stronger authenticity under a Female Gaze! Other young women may consequently not see themselves in her place, and prefer an actress who resembles the real Molly Bloom in age and natural hair color, rather than watching some huge celebrity’s studio-push toward an Oscar.

I’m probably scraping the barrel right now, yet I still recommend this energized biopic! Thanks to the dialogue more so than the direction, the claustrophobic energy of illustrated geometric degree angles never dies off, apparently shuffling you into Molly’s deck while she deals her cards in the game of skill.

Of course, we’ve each had a traumatic turning point similar to her Olympics incident, but her legacy today reminds of a truth urgently closer to home than a stray tree branch in our path. It parallels the blame both sexes share for the other’s pain, teaching us how our own greed attracts crime. Amongst the current Hollywood sex scandals, we sincerely need the proper empowerment communicated in Molly’s game.… Expand

1 of 3 users found this helpful12

Mercurio

Jan 7, 2018

I'm a huge Aaron Sorkin fan (ever since The West Wing), but because this movie has an utterly unlikable protagonist it's difficult to care about anything that happens to her -- no matter how clever the banter between characters. Even more problematic: there's a narrator's voice-over thatI'm a huge Aaron Sorkin fan (ever since The West Wing), but because this movie has an utterly unlikable protagonist it's difficult to care about anything that happens to her -- no matter how clever the banter between characters. Even more problematic: there's a narrator's voice-over that continues for the entirety of the movie, literally telling us everything we're seeing (at least for the first hour and forty minutes; I walked out with 20 minutes left).… Expand

3 of 8 users found this helpful35

SEE ALL 59 REVIEWS