I really enjoyed Molly's Game a lot. It's an action-packed drama based on a true story starring Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom, an ambitious woman who winds up running very high stakes poker games in Los Angeles and later New York.
Molly gets herself into legal trouble which is not entirely surprising giving the amounts of money and types of people involved in the poker. Enter Idris Elba as Molly's lawyer Charlie Jaffey. These two bounce of each other in a fabulous way and their scenes together are great to watch.
There's some flashbacks to Molly's former life as an Olympic skier and we discover her relationship with her father (Kevin Costner) has had a big impact on her. My one criticism of this film is that the complexity of this past combined with the dramas caused by the poker gig are all tied up in a very quick and relatively tidy way which was a bit hard to run with for me.
Regular readers may have noticed I don't talk much about the directors of the films I blog about but in the case of Molly's Game, it's worth noting in setting the scene as many of you would be familiar with his television work.
The director (and author of the screenplay) of Molly's Game is none other than Aaron Sorkin, the brains behind the hit TV series The West Wing and indeed the writer of seasons 1-4. If you've seen that or any of his other work you will know he writes rapid-fire dialogue and Molly's Game is no exception. The Sorkin thing is also evident in the length of the film... two hours and 20 minutes! GAH! But to be fair, it's pacey and I didn't feel that length as much as I typically do with a film that long.
Here's a 4.5 star review from The Guardian and a 3.5 star review in The Daily Review if you want to read more. If I were to give it a rating myself I'd say it's right in the middle of those at 4 for me.
Trailer here. In cinemas 1 February but I gather there's some advance screenings if you're keen.