{"id":9332,"date":"2017-09-15T15:37:24","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T15:37:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=9332"},"modified":"2018-01-11T13:32:29","modified_gmt":"2018-01-11T13:32:29","slug":"tiff-film-review-aaron-sorkins-mollys-game","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/?p=9332","title":{"rendered":"TIFF FILM REVIEW: Aaron Sorkin\u2019s \u2018Molly\u2019s Game\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By Ray Bennett<\/p>\n

TORONTO \u2013 Aaron Sorkin\u2019s \u201cMolly\u2019s Game\u201d assumes that to watch obnoxious rich men play the most boring form of poker is actually entertaining. Its story of a glamorous woman whose attempts to exploit the bad behaviour of bullies and weaklings with a gambling habit is redeemed only by the poise and subtlety of star Jessica Chastain in the title role.<\/p>\n

She plays Molly Bloom, a real-life figure whose competitive spirit leads to a lucrative but short-lived career running high-stakes poker games in Hollywood after her Olympic skiing career s cut short by injury. Movie stars and bankers, some of them famous, play in Molly\u2019s game in swanky hotel suites with expensive booze and food served by available models.<\/p>\n

The film begins with Bloom busted for operating illegal gambling nights in New York and facing a long time in jail unless a compassionate lawyer played by Idris Elba can get her off. Flashbacks show how she was driven by her psychologist father (Kevin Costner) to become a top athlete and the dismay that followed her injury. She goes to work for a deeply unpleasant businessman who plays cards with a group of men who enjoy risking big money as a form of comparing genitals and ends up in the Big Apple where the players are rather more dangerous.<\/p>\n

The story hinges on whether or not Molly will reveal the names of the poker players in order to save herself. Sorkin drenches the film in a torrent of words that fail to obscure the fact that not a lot actually happens except that, since they play the simple Texas hold\u2019em, men with deep pockets and a good short-term memory tend to win. Molly\u2019s relationship with her father is rather more interesting and Costner is impressive as a domineering man whose analytical ability governs the way he is as a parent, not always in the kindest way.<\/p>\n

Elba is fine, too, and while the film is undistinguished visually, Daniel Pemberton\u2019s score helps considerably. Jessica Chastain, however, does all the heavy lifting. She gives a very ambitious woman a touch of decency there\u2019s no reason to suppose was actually there. Costume designer Susan Lyall, sensing no doubt that Sorkin\u2019s dialogue would become tiresome, gives the beautiful Chastain a diverting set of outfits and the actress\u2019s intelligence sustains interest when it threatens to subside.<\/p>\n

Venue: Toronto International Film Festival; Released: U.K. Jan. 1 (Entertainment One) \/ U.S. Jan. 5 (STXfilms); Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Michael Cera, Kevin Costner, Chris O\u2019Dowd, Graham Greene; Director, writer: Aaron Sorkin, based on the book by Molly Bloom; Director of Photography: Charlotte Bruus Christensen; Production designer: David Wasco; Music: Daniel Pemberton; Editors: Alan Baumgarten, Elliot Graham, Josh Schaeffer; Costume designer: Susan Lyall; Producers: Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal, Matt Jackson; Executive producers: Leopoldo Gout, Stuart Besser; Production: MG Films, Entertainment One, Pascal Pictures, the Mark Gordon Co.; Rating: U.K. 15 \/ U.S. R; running time: 140 minutes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Ray Bennett TORONTO \u2013 Aaron Sorkin\u2019s \u201cMolly\u2019s Game\u201d assumes that to watch obnoxious rich men play the most boring form of poker is actually entertaining. Its story of a glamorous woman whose attempts to exploit the bad behaviour of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,14,1770],"tags":[4764,4766,2221,1942,4765,4267,2071,1192],"class_list":["post-9332","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film","category-reviews","category-tiff-toronto-international-film-festival","tag-mollys-game","tag-aron-sorkin","tag-daniel-pemberton","tag-idris-elba","tag-jessica-chasten","tag-kevin-costner","tag-tiff","tag-toronto-international-film-festival"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9332","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9332"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9332\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9365,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9332\/revisions\/9365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9332"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9332"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thecliffedge.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9332"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}