Molly's Game

Molly's Game (2017) is Aaron Sorkin's first film as director as well as writer. Anyone who knows his work will recognise it inside ten minutes: the talk is fast, long and uninterrupted. Molly Bloom was an Olympic level skier until an accident ended it. She then built and ran high stakes private poker games in Los Angeles for years, with celebrities, billionaires and eventually the Russian mafia at the table. The FBI arrived. The film runs on two tracks: how the games were built, and the legal case afterwards. Idris Elba plays her lawyer and their scenes together are the strongest thing in it. Sorkin's familiar weakness is here too. Characters occasionally stop speaking like people and start arguing positions. At 141 minutes, the final section resolves in a scene between Molly and her father on an ice rink, and that scene has been argued about a great deal. Jessica Chastain carries the whole film. Good for: true stories, dialogue driven drama, and Sorkin's writing. No poker knowledge required. Less good for: there is drug use and one violent scene. If you want something quiet and observational, everyone here talks constantly.