Molly's Game

Molly’s Game is the true story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), the “poker princess” who came to dominate the world of underground poker.

At a crossroads in life after an injury cuts short her career as an Olympic skier, twenty-six-year-old Molly Bloom is working as an office manager when she’s hired by her boss to run a high-stakes underground poker game for him. Finding herself skilled at this, she quickly establishes herself as a major figure by running her own games. She attracts many rich and famous players to her table, including ‘Player X’ (Michael Cera), a character based on actors like Tobey Maguire and Leonardo DiCaprio who attended the real-life Molly Bloom’s games. However, living the high life takes its toll on Molly, and as her games start attracting increasingly disreputable players, she finds herself sucked deeper into a dangerous world with both the mafia and the law on her tail.

Jessica Chastain is terrific in her starring role, helping to bring to life her fascinating character and the extraordinary world she inhabited. Idris Elba is predictably good as Molly’s lawyer, while Kevin Costner shines in his small but important role as Molly’s father. Molly’s Game’s Oscar-nominated screenplay was written by Aaron Sorkin (in what was also his directorial debut), who brought his trademark fast-moving style to the film and did justice to the captivating real-life story.

Overall, Molly’s Game is a thoroughly enjoyable film that should not be missed!

Iain Walker

High stakes poker, celebrity scandal, Russian mafia… Sounds like fiction but it’s actually the amazing true story of Molly Bloom – the ‘poker princess’ on whose life story the film is based.

A former Olympian skier, Molly’s career was cut short by a cruel twist of fate, so she takes out a gap year before law school and takes an office job to bring in some money. The pay is certainly not enough to put up with her demanding boss, and Molly thinks about quitting until one night, he gives her phone numbers and tells her to arrange a poker game with a $10,000 buy in. With film stars, politicians, CEOs and all those from the highest echelons of society, Molly makes more in tips from one night than she would in a month! But when her boss starts talking about her working for free, she leaves and takes the game with her… Molly tries so hard not to break the law and keep out of trouble, but hubris, deceit and recklessness are rife in high stakes poker, and it’s not long before the FBI and Russian mafia are involved…

This is a sharp, engagingly-told story, with Jessica Chastain (Miss Sloane, Zero Dark Thirty) owning every moment that she’s onscreen. This has all the glamour and the energy of Ocean’s Eleven, though with a slightly darker feel, made more powerful by the fact this is based on true events.

Natalie Tyldesley-Marshall