Screen writer Aaron Sorkin has quite a way with words…
His past writing has resulted in movies like THE SOCIAL NETWORK, A FEW GOOD MEN and THE WEST WING crackling onto the screen.
With MOLLY’S GAME Sorkin expands his talents to include directing his own screenplay.
And as made up as the basic story sounds, it’s based on Molly Bloom’s book entitled ‘MOLLY’S GAME: From Hollywood’s Elite To Wall Street’s Billionaire Boys Club, My High-Stakes Adventure In The World Of Underground Poker.’
Talk about a mouthful!
MOLLY’S GAME is the bio-thriller of Olympic skiing hopeful Molly Brown (Jessica Chastain) who rose to the top of her game—until an accident.
But Molly wouldn’t give up and instead climbed to the top of another sport—namely high-stakes underground poker.
Her players included Hollywood royalty, sports stars and business titans…
And before long the Russian mob.
Life was better than good for at least a decade.
Until one night when some 17 FBI agents came calling and shut her down.
Molly’s lone ally was criminal defense lawyer Charlie Jaffray (Idris Elba) who found that there was much more to this Poker Princess than met the eye.
Also on her side was her tough-as-nails psychologist father (Kevin Costner) who had instilled a business acumen in her that kept pushing Molly ahead against all odds.
MOLLY’S GAME is a fascinating film whose rapid-fire (Sorkin) dialogue seems to make the film’s two hours and twenty minutes running time seem shorter than it really is.
It’s another terrific performance by Jessica Chastain that has her nominated for Best Actress honors in Sunday night’s Golden Globe awards.
Also nominated is Aaron Sorkin’s trademark screenplay as the famous writer now breaks through into directing as well.
MOLLY’S GAME opened in semi-exclusive engagements on Christmas day.and it expands this weekend citywide.
My grade: B
JACK GOES TO THE MOVIES Friday mornings during Kansas City’s Morning News on 98.1 FM, KMBZ.
Nice work Jack.