Review: Molly's Game

Molly's Game (2017) - Aaron Sorkin

         As a general rule, I hate it when reviews automatically start by referencing the other works of the directors, screenwriters, actors, etc. I don't think it's fair to put so much pressure on the filmmakers previous body of work as a form of dictating what we should feel about whatever this newest, reviewable piece of work is (Please don't go back through my previous reviews to see how often I've done this. I'm not gonna do it, so neither should you. Looove you). Yes, obviously, sometimes it can help set up a certain context for what you're about to see, but often it seems like lazy reviewing to me (And clearly I'm such an ingenue of the reviewing game). Well goddamn it all if I can't do the exact opposite of preaching what I sow (is that a saying?), but it's virtually impossible to review the new film, Molly's Game, the first directorial debut of long time screenwriter of walking and talking, Aaron Sorkin, without discussing his larger body of work. Sure, you can enjoy the film on its own merits, because it's overall a well-made and engaging film, but it's also the most Aaron Sorkiest thing Aaron Sorkin has ever Sorkined. Sometimes you just to have to strap yourself in and smell your own dirty fingertips (is that a saying?).

        Aaron Sorkin is the screenwriter behind A Few Good Men, The West Wing, The Social Network, Moneyball, and similar others. If you're not familiar, all those projects have this in common: Everyone talks fast. So fast. Everyone is the most clever person you've ever heard speak. Every conversation is an intellectual dual where everyone is trying to be the most charmingly coy fuck ever born. Everything is done with a small, sardonic wink, the characters (who are all just idealized versions of how Aaron Sorkin wishes humans spoke, because trust me, they do not speak this way in real life) always nodding to the audience, almost as an in-joke about how much smarter they are than the rest of world. It honestly takes a while to get used to how Sorkin-y he can get, and even when you do, it doesn't mean it's always great. Sometimes it is (The Social Network), and it's used to further the characters and narrative in a meaningful way. Sometimes, however, it's less successful (Moneyball) and it just serves to show unpleasant people not only being unpleasant but also totally fucking know-it-all-y at the same time (how many bullshit adjectives can I invent for this review? I might reach Sorkanistic levels of bullshit!) At best he's very clever, and at worst he creates non-humans that not even aliens would want to anally probe.

       Okay, okay, so how does this all factor into Molly's Game, the true(ish) story of Molly Bloom, the runner of one of LA's biggest underground poker games, packed to the gills with actors and other big celebrities, before moving to New York and getting accidentally mixed up with the Russian mafia and arrested as part of a widespread RICO charge? Well it's important, because not only did Aaron Sorkin adapt the screenplay from Molly Bloom's book, but for the first time in his feverishly sly career, he also directed the flick as well. And honestly? It's good. It's quite good. It's also SO Aaron Sorkin it almost collapses under its witty banter, all-too-clever repertoire, and never-ending slapshot-speed narration.
       But it doesn't collapse. And a lot of that is because Jessica Chastain is the greatest.
       The movie has some missteps along the way (which I'll get to), but Jessica Chastain's protrayal of the titular Molly never gets too precious or clever, despite Sorkin's nonstop barrage of geniuses talking quickly at you. She's strong and doesn't take your shit, but still finds a way to express a sense of humor that isn't too smug (which is essentially Sorkin's number one speed). You not only enjoy watching Chastain get deeper and deeper into Molly Bloom's semi-seedy yet extravagant poker life, you understand the choices she's making. She's one of the most relatable Sorkin characters to ever grace the screen, regardless of her ultra-intelligence and Olympic skiing background. Aaron Sorkin did a great job writing and a good job directing this movie, but including Chastain as its key acting collaborator was possibly the best moves he made.

       The writing is exactly what you'd thing from a Sorkin movie (if you've never seen a movie written by Aaron Sorkin and are still reading this review, you are the greatest person I have ever met and you don't deserve this shitty of a review), so then what about the directing? Considering his movies and shows are so often written like plays, with long monologue following long monologue, I was a little surprised at how he chose to shoot the film: Everything is shot so tight and close, almost always framing everything as near to the actor's faces as the cameras would allow. With so much dialogue so rapidly shooting back and forth it seemed strange to isolate the characters in their own wide frames so often, but there are plenty of times during the film it works (during poker scenes where characters are clearly at odds with each other, or when her and Idris Elba's lawyer character first meet to establish his distrust of her), but there are other parts where it comes off a bit shaky and overly dramatic. There is one scene in particular, a scary scene of violence that I don't want to discuss in detail, but suffice it to say the close-ups come off as hacky and blurry in a very silly kind of way that robs the scene of some of its agency.

I am so fucking attractive.

        There are also some parts that get, as I mentioned before, So Sorkined out that it's almost dumb. A silly, last-minute reconnection with her father (played admirably by Kevin Costner), who pushed Molly to the extremes her whole childhood, and is supposedly a brilliant therapist, tells her he's going to "give her three years of therapy in three minutes." It's the most blatant piece of screenwriting in the whole movie, and it's utterly ridiculous. But even that scene ends on such a sincere, moving moment of utter parenting that I can't even knock the whole thing. In the end it all basically works.

        Sorkin's dialogue always makes for great, scene-chewing performances, and Molly's Game doesn't disappoint (Idris Elba and Michael Cera give great, quick performances that hold their own with Chastain's Molly). Regardless of the schmaltzy ending, or the too-sweet moments between characters that could never quite exist in real life, Aaron Sorkin makes such a strong and valiant case for why this type of story should come from someone like him. The film simultaneously has the excitement and quickness of a good poker movie, but still stays close enough to the protagonist's POV that it remains a dramatically successful film. And let's face it: Jessica Chastain kicks fucking ass.

Grade: 8 out of 10 Michael-Cera-Tobey-Maguires.

(PS. It's totally Tobey Maguire. That guy's a dick.)

Gross.