Good Golly

I recently watched Molly's Game on TV.  I saw it when it hit the theatres a few years ago, and I'd heard the story it was based on when it was in the news.

That story, if you've forgotten, is about a young woman named Molly Bloom.  Raised in an overachieving family, she moved to Los Angeles and got a job as a gopher where as part of her duties she ran a poker game attended by celebrities and rich businessmen.  She got good at it but was forced out by her boss, only to wrest the game away from him, and make it even bigger.

Then she lost the L.A. game and moved to New York where she started an even bigger one.   She was making millions but started taking a rake--a percentage of the pot--which made the game illegal. Authorities investigated both the Los Angeles game (one of the guys in it was running a Ponzi scheme and once arrested started spilling the beans about the game, where he found investors) and the New York game (which was filled with some questionable characters, and since Molly was running an illegal game, the authorities could squeeze her).  Anyway, Molly took a plea deal and is free now, sadder but wiser.

But that's her story.  What about the movie?  Well, the first thing you notice is this is an Aaron Sorkin film.  Not only did he write the screenplay, he directed for the first time.  So we get lots of narration and lots of dialogue. All the talk is certainly good enough that you're not bored, though Sorkin's sometimes so busy being clever that you feel he's lost the spine of the scene.  And also he's a bit too much in love with his words--the film is two hours and twenty minutes, and I think it would have been just fine if he cut half an hour.

But the film is fun, and it moves.  Jessica Chastain is quite good in the title role--surprising she wasn't nominated for an Oscar, though perhaps she would have been if the film had made more money.  Idris Elba isn't bad as her lawyer, though it's more a supporting role.  And there's Kevin Costner as her tough but understanding dad, who delivers what's asked of him.

While I'd recommend the film, there's still a problem.  We cut back and forth between the movie's present-day legal case and the story of how Molly developed the game. (There's also a lot of back story about growing up with her dad and being a competitive skier.) The lawyer stuff isn't bad, and sets up the main problem--will Molly go to jail or will she get off, not to mention will she learn to be a moral person (whatever that means--it's important to screenwriters like Sorkin, but I don't think the audience cares that much).  Meanwhile, the story of Molly's progress in the world of poker is fascinating, as she learns, overcomes problems and gets more and more successful.

I think that's the story worth exploring, but Sorkin saw more and wanted more.  He got to know Molly and wanted to tell her full story.  Okay, but maybe it would have been better if you had a 110 minute film that told just a little less of her story.