Le Grand Jeu

One of the best films of the year was almost completely snubbed by The Academy, something we are now (2022) starting to see as a pattern. Chastain puts forth one of two best performances of the year (no surprise), and Sorkin deserved not just a nod for Adapted Screenplay, but to take home the hardware (and at least two more nominations for Best Picture and Director). Not going to opine on reasons, but lamenting the loss of credibility that the Academy has earned over the past four years. ANYWAY, 'Molly's Game' is a tour-de-Sorkin, meaning rapid, witty, and poignant dialogue that points to genius-at-work. Chastain proves once again she is one of the finest actors on the planet. Supporting cast all on their A Game. No surprise, because when "The Boss" is in the chair, actors rise to the occasion. It happens in Sorkin enterprises - I've witnessed it first-hand on the set of The West Wing. See this film - if you have already, see it again! It's one of those great films that seems even better the second/third/etc time you see it. You decide whether the Academy got it right or not. Bravo 👏 and 👍👍

What makes this movie interesting is that it is based on a true story. That alone makes you watch the movie with different eyes. And even if I didn't understand all the details fully as it was sometimes complicated to understand all the legal terminology, certainly for a guy like me that has a different language than English, it got all my attention during 140 minutes. A long movie that doesn't get boring, there are not much of those. The cast is well chosen and they all contributed to the good story. Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom has the perfect physique to play that character. It seems that Idris Elba only plays in good movies so when I see his name I'm already excited to watch that movie. Molly's Game is an interesting story, even for people that have absolutely nothing in common with poker and rich people. Better than I expected.

Molly's Game has interesting content and a good cast who act well in it, but the story's thin and told in a way that's numbing. The re-telling narration almost never stops, so there isn't room to think about things. Michael Cera's character Player X is suppose to be the best player, but they show this by saying someone's laying down the nuts to him because he's talking, that doesn't make him good, that just makes that player bad. Molly as a main character's very distant and not easy to connect with, but the film held my interest.

The movie is a bore fest. It's basically a pretentious arse who talks her life as really shallow poorly written characters interact with her. Supposed to be a a true story, which is Hollywood means they make the whole thing up. It's just not interesting.