dianeseattle
Member
This movie is so dense with dialog and action, it's really hard to write about. It's based on the true story of Molly Bloom and shepherded onto film by Aaron Sorkin who, miraculously, managed to keep himself out of it mostly. He really didn't have to mansplain because Molly had already written an eloquent and microscopic book about the events that led to her losing everything.
Molly (Jessica Chastain) lives with an overbearing, cruel father who pushes her and her two brothers hard to land positions where they are the best in the world. Molly was trained in freestyle skiing, headed for the Olympics, even though a sudden severe case of scoliosis at the age of 14 or something landed her in the hospital, where her spine was wired and braced straight and told she would never ski again. Well, she did, and was on track to get the Gold when a freak accident took her out of the game.
There's a lot of time spent at the kitchen table, her father (Kevin Costner) harping over her limitations and loser status, with Molly volleying back some kind of insult or accusation using profanity. He played all the bully cards to make her do his will. Eventually, she grabbed as many things as she could carry and moved to LA. Once there, she got a job as a cocktail waitress. She was spied by a businessman (Jeremy Strong) and hired to be his personal assistant.
Part of her job description was to notify the usual 9 high-rollers of the location and buy-in of their weekly high-stakes poker game. As she learned the game and began to get thousands of dollars a night in tips, her boss informed her that he was no longer going to pay her a salary. And if she didn't like it, she could quit, but she'd lose her opportunity to make money at the poker game.
There's a lot of money, crime, celebrity and cons that go on from there, but ultimately she manages to poach all these rich players and start her own game. This seems like a great idea and she makes millions, but one by one, facades fall, and the true character of these prominent people is exposed.
She gets screwed over so many times that she ends up losing 25million dollars in loans she made the big spenders, which she could never collect. And just when she had managed to clean up the mess she made, she's arrested by the FBI and put into a RICO indictment along with prominent members of the Russian Mob.
Most of the movie revolves around that and the question, "How did I get here?" Then, of course, she wants to find a way out, but everything is against her and she is defeated by obstacles with every step, including the very real possibility that she'll be rubbed out by the Mob.
The ending was not too surprising to me, but that's what happens when a film is based on reality. There aren't that many Disneyland fantasy options.
There are scads of high-profile character actors in the film and I found myself asking, "What movie was he in?" all the time. Everyone does his or her job perfectly and even though the math is super-complicated, i think most people could follow it. It's well-written, above all, and thoroughly entertaining.
Now, I realize this movie was made in 2017, but I just saw it today, so forgive me for coming late to the party. Jessica Chastain is always good, but she was so good in this movie, I wanted to learn everything her character knew. There wasn't a single moment where a man ran to her rescue. On the contrary, she rescued so many men that she put her own existence in peril. For her performance as a genuine, take no prisoners don't-need-a-man woman, I am so grateful. Even when she could have made life easier on herself if she'd just let a lot of unethical men get off scot-free, she remained brave and smart. She wasn't doing those men any favors; she was playing a game of chess where she knew the mention of someone's name might make things harder on her in the long run.
It's rare to see a woman so unconditionally uncompromised in a movie. But Molly was. And Jessica Chastain brings her to life. I think I'll probably watch it a few more times so I can catch on a little more, but in my opinion, this movie was perfect.
Molly (Jessica Chastain) lives with an overbearing, cruel father who pushes her and her two brothers hard to land positions where they are the best in the world. Molly was trained in freestyle skiing, headed for the Olympics, even though a sudden severe case of scoliosis at the age of 14 or something landed her in the hospital, where her spine was wired and braced straight and told she would never ski again. Well, she did, and was on track to get the Gold when a freak accident took her out of the game.
There's a lot of time spent at the kitchen table, her father (Kevin Costner) harping over her limitations and loser status, with Molly volleying back some kind of insult or accusation using profanity. He played all the bully cards to make her do his will. Eventually, she grabbed as many things as she could carry and moved to LA. Once there, she got a job as a cocktail waitress. She was spied by a businessman (Jeremy Strong) and hired to be his personal assistant.
Part of her job description was to notify the usual 9 high-rollers of the location and buy-in of their weekly high-stakes poker game. As she learned the game and began to get thousands of dollars a night in tips, her boss informed her that he was no longer going to pay her a salary. And if she didn't like it, she could quit, but she'd lose her opportunity to make money at the poker game.
There's a lot of money, crime, celebrity and cons that go on from there, but ultimately she manages to poach all these rich players and start her own game. This seems like a great idea and she makes millions, but one by one, facades fall, and the true character of these prominent people is exposed.
She gets screwed over so many times that she ends up losing 25million dollars in loans she made the big spenders, which she could never collect. And just when she had managed to clean up the mess she made, she's arrested by the FBI and put into a RICO indictment along with prominent members of the Russian Mob.
Most of the movie revolves around that and the question, "How did I get here?" Then, of course, she wants to find a way out, but everything is against her and she is defeated by obstacles with every step, including the very real possibility that she'll be rubbed out by the Mob.
The ending was not too surprising to me, but that's what happens when a film is based on reality. There aren't that many Disneyland fantasy options.
There are scads of high-profile character actors in the film and I found myself asking, "What movie was he in?" all the time. Everyone does his or her job perfectly and even though the math is super-complicated, i think most people could follow it. It's well-written, above all, and thoroughly entertaining.
Now, I realize this movie was made in 2017, but I just saw it today, so forgive me for coming late to the party. Jessica Chastain is always good, but she was so good in this movie, I wanted to learn everything her character knew. There wasn't a single moment where a man ran to her rescue. On the contrary, she rescued so many men that she put her own existence in peril. For her performance as a genuine, take no prisoners don't-need-a-man woman, I am so grateful. Even when she could have made life easier on herself if she'd just let a lot of unethical men get off scot-free, she remained brave and smart. She wasn't doing those men any favors; she was playing a game of chess where she knew the mention of someone's name might make things harder on her in the long run.
It's rare to see a woman so unconditionally uncompromised in a movie. But Molly was. And Jessica Chastain brings her to life. I think I'll probably watch it a few more times so I can catch on a little more, but in my opinion, this movie was perfect.
