Molly's Game

Molly's Game is a 2017 American biographical crime drama film written and directed by Aaron Sorkin (in his directorial debut), based on the 2014 memoir of the same name by Molly Bloom. It stars Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, Joe Keery, Brian D'Arcy James, and Bill Camp. The film follows Bloom (Chastain), who becomes the target of an FBI investigation after the underground poker empire she runs for Hollywood celebrities, athletes, business tycoons, and the Russian mob is exposed.

Molly's Game
Theatrical release poster
Directed byAaron Sorkin
Produced by
Screenplay byAaron Sorkin
Based onMolly's Game
by Molly Bloom
Starring
Music byDaniel Pemberton
CinematographyCharlotte Bruus Christensen
Edited by
Production
companies
Distributed bySTX Films
Release date
  • September 8, 2017 (2017-09-08) (TIFF)
  • December 25, 2017 (2017-12-25) (United States)
Running time
141 minutes[1]
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$30 million[2]
Box office$59.3 million[3]

Principal photography began in November 2016 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The film premiered on September 8, 2017, at the Toronto International Film Festival, and began a limited theatrical release in the United States on December 25, 2017, by STXfilms, before expanding wide on January 5, 2018, and grossed $59 million worldwide. Molly's Game received positive reviews, with particular praise for Sorkin's screenplay, as well as Chastain and Elba's performances, with the former being considered one of the best of her career by some critics.[4] The film earned Chastain a Golden Globe nomination for Best Actress – Drama,[5] while Sorkin earned nominations for his screenplay at the Academy Awards, Golden Globes, Writers Guild of America Awards, and BAFTA Awards.[6][7]

Plot

Molly Bloom is a world-class mogul skier with Olympic aspirations, the result of years of enforced training from her overbearing father. In a qualifying event for the 2002 Winter Olympics, she was severely injured, ending her career.

Instead of following her original plan of attending law school, Molly decides to take a year off and move to Los Angeles. Once she arrives, she becomes a bottle service waitress at a club, where she meets Dean, an ostentatious but unsuccessful real estate developer. She becomes his office manager, and he soon involves her in running his underground poker games. Many famous and wealthy individuals, such as movie stars, investment bankers, and sports players, are involved in Dean's game. Molly earns large sums of money in tips alone.

Molly is initially uninformed on poker topics but quickly learns how to appeal to the players to gain tips. In particular, she hopes to please the most successful player, Player X, by attracting new players to the game. Dean, upon seeing that Molly is becoming increasingly independent in running the games, attempts to control her, and then he fires her. Molly, having gained contacts through years of running the game, decides to create her own poker games. She rents a penthouse at a hotel and hires a staff to help her run games. Additionally, she contacts employees at clubs and casinos to try and spread word about her poker games. Player X, along with many other players, decides to leave Dean's games to play at Molly's game. Molly becomes increasingly successful, gaining more money while being pressured by Player X to raise the stakes for her games. Harlan Eustice, a skilled, conservative, and successful player, joins Molly's game. One night, after accidentally losing a hand to the notorious worst player in Molly's circle, Harlan becomes increasingly compulsive, suffering heavy losses (later, Molly finds out that Player X, who enjoys ruining people's lives more than the game itself, has been funding Harlan to keep him in the game). After Molly berates him for his unethical actions, Player X decides to change venue for his games, and the other players join him, leaving Molly.

Molly moves to New York, with the hope of beginning a new underground poker game. After reaching out to many wealthy New Yorkers, Molly finds enough players for several weekly games. Despite continuous success, she fears being unable to cover her losses when players cannot pay. Her dealer convinces her to begin taking a percentage of large pots, allowing her to recoup her potential losses but making her game an illegal gambling operation. One of her Los Angeles players is indicted for running a Ponzi scheme; Molly is investigated and questioned as to who attended her games. At this time, Molly becomes increasingly addicted to drugs, as the games have increasingly taken their toll. Her players also begin to include wealthy individuals from the Russian mafia, among others. She is approached by several Italian mafia members who offer their services to extort money from non-paying players. After she declines, she is attacked in her home, where she is held at gunpoint and her mother's life is threatened. As she is about to return to her poker games, the FBI conducts a raid, a result of Douglas Downey, one of her players, acting as an informant. Molly's assets are seized, and she returns home to live with her mother.

Two years later, Molly has moved out and published a book where she names a few individuals that played in her games. She is arrested by the FBI and indicted for involvement in illegal gambling with the mafia. She enlists the help of Charlie Jaffey, a high-profile and expensive lawyer in New York, who agrees to help after he learns that she has been protecting innocent people who were affected by her poker games. While she is in New York awaiting trial, her father, Larry, seeks her out and attempts to reconcile with her. He admits that he was overbearing and that he treated Molly differently than her brothers because she had known about his affairs. Charlie reads Molly's book and becomes interested in helping her case, as he feels she has not committed serious enough wrongdoing to merit a prison term. Charlie negotiates a deal for Molly to receive no sentence and for her money to be returned in exchange for her hard drives and digital records from gambling. Molly declines this deal, fearing that the information about her players would be released, and she pleads guilty. The judge, deciding that she had committed no serious crimes, sentences her to 200 hours community service, one year probation, and a $200,000 fine.

Cast

Production

Development
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who made his directorial debut on the film

On November 12, 2014, Mark Gordon's The Mark Gordon Company bought the feature film adaptation rights to Molly Bloom's memoir, Molly's Game, which Gordon produced. Aaron Sorkin was hired to adapt the memoir into a screenplay.[9] Bloom had already approached Sorkin, as he was her "favorite writer".[10][11] On January 7, 2016, it was announced that Sorkin would make his directorial debut on the film, for Sony Pictures Entertainment, while Amy Pascal also produced.[12] On February 18, 2016, Sony exited the project,[13] and on May 13, 2016, STX Entertainment came on board, and subsequently bought the film's US and Chinese distribution rights for $9 million.[14]

Casting

On February 18, 2016, Sorkin offered Jessica Chastain the lead role in the film, but the negotiations between them had then not yet begun.[15] On May 6, 2016, Idris Elba joined the film to star alongside Chastain. Sorkin stated that "the casting of Jessica and Idris in the two lead roles is any filmmaker's dream come true, they're two of the greatest actors of their generation, paired for the first time, and their chemistry will be electric."[16] On September 7, 2016, Michael Cera joined the cast as Player X, a celebrity poker player.[17] On October 17, 2016, Kevin Costner joined as Molly Bloom's father,[18] and on October 21, 2016, Brian d'Arcy James was added.[19] On November 9, 2016, Chris O'Dowd, Jeremy Strong, Bill Camp, and Graham Greene joined the cast as well.[20]

Molly Bloom herself discussed Chastain's portrayal of her character with ET Canada stating, "We spent a little time together. She didn't have much time for prep or research," Bloom tells ET Canada's Matte Babel. "I was blown away by her performance by how right it was and how deep and understood I felt by her performance."[21]

Filming

Principal photography began on November 9, 2016, in Toronto.[22] Production concluded on February 9, 2017.[23]

Release

Molly's Game premiered on September 8, 2017, at the Toronto International Film Festival.[1] It was also the closing film at AFI Fest on November 16, 2017, replacing All the Money in the World.[24] It began a limited release in North America on December 25, 2017, before expanding wide on January 5, 2018.[25] The film was previously slated to be released on November 22, 2017, before being moved to the Christmas date in October 2017.[26]

Reception

Box office

Molly's Game grossed $28.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $30.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $59.3 million.[3]

On Christmas Day, the film debuted with $1.04 million from 271 theaters.[27] In its first full weekend, the film grossed $2.3 million, finishing 13th at the box office.[28] The film expanded wide on January 5, 2018, alongside the opening of Insidious: The Last Key, and was projected to gross around $6 million from 1,608 theaters in its opening weekend.[2] It ended up debuting to $6.9 million, finishing 7th at the box office.[29] The following weekend it dropped 44% to $3.9 million, finishing 11th.[30] In its third week of wide release the film grossed $1.7 million, finishing 19th.[31]

The film also grossed a total of $4.5 million in France and $5.3 million in the United Kingdom.[32]

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 81% based on 297 reviews, with an average rating of 7.07/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Powered by an intriguing story and a pair of outstanding performances from Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba, Molly's Game marks a solid debut for writer-director Aaron Sorkin."[33] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[34] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A–" on an A+ to F scale.[27]

Peter Debruge of Variety praised Sorkin's script, saying, "... Molly's Game delivers one of the screen's great female parts — a dense, dynamic, compulsively entertaining affair, whose central role makes stunning use of Chastain's stratospheric talent."[35] Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film 9/10, writing, "Molly's Game is a perfect story for Sorkin. There's poker, the Russian mafia, the Italian mafia, celebrities, and sports. The only thing missing for Sorkin's wheelhouse is President Bartlet. And at over two hours long, the film still feels tight and never fails to entertain."[36]

Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying, "Molly's Game bristles with fun zingers, electric energy and Sorkin's brand of verbal fireworks – all of which help enormously when the movie falters in fleshing out its characters. Still, in his first film with a female protagonist, the writer-director has hit on a timely theme: the tribulations of being a woman in a man's world."[37] Chastain's portrayal of Molly Bloom was praised by The Hollywood Reporter, for "Chastain roars through the performance with a force and take-no-prisoners attitude that keeps one rapt." The Hollywood Reporter also stated: "Sorkin keeps things rolling relentlessly and gets fine results from the actors down the line [...]. [...] The film looks sharp and a trio of editors keeps thing pacey despite the 140-minute running time." It concluded: "One strong woman and many rich men make for a good show."[38]

Accolades
Award Date of ceremony Category Recipient(s) and nominee(s) Result Ref.
AARP's Movies for Grownups Awards February 5, 2018 Best Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin Won [39][40]
Academy Awards March 4, 2018 Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated [41]
Alliance of Women Film Journalists January 9, 2018 Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated [42]
American Cinema Editors January 26, 2018 Best Edited Feature Film – Dramatic Alan Baumgarten, Elliot Graham and Josh Schaeffer Nominated [43]
British Academy Film Awards February 18, 2018 Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin Nominated [44]
Critics' Choice Movie Awards January 11, 2018 Best Actress Jessica Chastain Nominated [45]
Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin Nominated
Denver International Film Festival November 13, 2017 Career Achievement Award Won [46]
Detroit Film Critics Society December 7, 2017 Best Actress Jessica Chastain Nominated [47]
Florida Film Critics Circle December 23, 2017 Best Screenplay – Adapted Aaron Sorkin Nominated [48]
[49]
Georgia Film Critics Association January 12, 2018 Best Actress Jessica Chastain Nominated [50]
Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin Nominated
Golden Globe Awards January 7, 2018 Best Actress in a Motion Picture – Drama Jessica Chastain Nominated [5]
Best Screenplay Aaron Sorkin Nominated
Mill Valley Film Festival October 17, 2017 Audience Favorite U.S. Cinema – Gold Award Molly's Game Won [51]
Palm Springs International Film Festival January 2, 2018 Chairman's Award Jessica Chastain Won [52]
Producers Guild of America Awards January 20, 2018 Best Theatrical Motion Picture Mark Gordon, Amy Pascal and Matt Jackson Nominated [53]
San Francisco Film Critics Circle December 10, 2017 Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin Nominated [54]
Satellite Awards February 10, 2018 Best Actress Jessica Chastain Nominated [55]
Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin Nominated
USC Scripter Awards February 10, 2018 Best Screenplay Aaron Sorkin and Molly Bloom Nominated [56]
Washington D.C. Area Film Critics Association December 8, 2017 Best Adapted Screenplay Aaron Sorkin Nominated [57]
Writers Guild of America Awards February 11, 2018 Best Adapted Screenplay Nominated [7]
Zurich Film Festival October 4, 2017 Career Achievement Award Won [58]

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