No game in Molly’s movie

Based on true events, Molly’s Game tells the story of Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain), the woman who established a poker empire for the rich, famous and most powerful men in America.

During the course of the film, we see Molly shift from failed Winter Olympian to running exclusive poker clubs in LA and then New York, only for the FBI to tear her world apart when she is marked as a suspect with ties to the Russian mob.

The first half of this film was pretty entertaining.

Helped along by Molly’s constant dry and witty narration, we follow Molly’s descent into the world of underground gambling with great intrigue.

However, in the latter half, things slowly become duller. The film seems to drag on for hours and the events you are witnessing feel somewhat repetitive.

Consequently, the more serious and emotional scenes of this second half lose their impact as a result of being dredged down by sheer boredom.

Thank goodness the story was told in a non-linear fashion, otherwise there would be little to keep me from falling asleep.

In spite of feeling bored, I do have to give praise to Jessica Chastain’s performance as well as Idris Elba’s as Molly’s lawyer, Charlie Jaffey. I enjoyed nearly every scene he was in.

If you’d never heard the story of Molly Bloom, I’d say this is a decent way to learn something about her life.

The dialogue is pretty well written and the first half of the film was relatively intriguing.

Other than that though, I can’t really say “see this movie soon”.