Molly’s Game

Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut, Molly’s Game follows Jessica Chastain’s title character as she parlays a personal-assistant gig into a recurring high-stakes poker game frequented by actors, athletes, and businessmen – with the movie detailing Molly’s astronomic rise and inevitable fall. Filmmaker Sorkin, who also wrote the screenplay, does an admittedly stunning job of immediately drawing the viewer into the proceedings, as Molly’s Game opens with a blisteringly-paced prologue detailing the protagonist’s catastrophic injury during a qualifying event for the Olympics – with the narrative subsequently exploring Molly’s initial exploits as a poker-game hostess and, in scenes set in the present, her collaboration with the lawyer (Idris Elba’s Charlie) hired to defend her from various intimidating charges. It’s interesting stuff that’s elevated by Chastain’s often riveting turn as the title character, with the actress’ strong work matched by an eclectic supporting cast that includes Michael Cera, Chris O’Dowd, and Kevin Costner. The film’s partial downfall, then, can be attributed primarily to its absurdly overlong running time of 140 minutes, as Molly’s Game suffers from a seriously bloated midsection that’s rife with padded-out and downright needless sequences – with the cumulative impact on the narrative nothing short of disastrous (ie the movie’s momentum is obliterated, essentially). Sorkin does manage to stave off total tedium by incorporating a handful of standout sequences (eg Charlie goes on a fairly epic rant regarding Molly’s character, Molly reconciles with her father, etc), and yet there’s little doubt that the movie fizzles out to a rather demonstrable (and disappointing) degree – which ultimately confirms Molly’s Game‘s place as a decent debut that could and should have been so much better.

**1/2 out of ****