Genre: Drama/Crime/Biography
Related Films: The Big Short, Miss Sloane, High Roller: The Steve Ungar Story
By Leanne Harragan
Based on the true story of Molly Bloom and Olympic Skier turned high-stakes poker game organiser. When she was arrested after ten years of running games, her only friend was her defence lawyer Charlie Jaffey who meets the real Molly, rather than the tabloid version created.
Now I was very excited for this release, I'm a big fan of Jessica Chastain and the trailer is enticing. This was a solid choice for my first big release film of 2018 and even though it is (very, very) early days for cinema 2018, I'm fairly certain this one will make my top ten.
Hailing a run time of 140 minutes, I was a little annoying because generally I'm not a fan of anything over the 2 hour mark; however this film was engaging enough to earn a run-time over 2. By the end I was more than willing to watch more, while it's isn't the most groundbreaking things I've ever seen, it was incredibly enticing, even more considering it's based on a true story.
The acting in this film was strong all round. I'm more and more impressed every time that I see Jessica Chastain's work (if you didn't catch her in 'The Zookeeper's Wife' last year, I implore you to watch it.) In this film especially there was something rather charming about her; she also looked incredible pretty much the whole film, so kudos to the costume designer. I loved her delivery of the dry, sarcastic lines which caught me off-guard on more than one occasion. I also liked Idris Elba as her lawyer and enjoyed the relationship he had with his daughter. Michael Cera was a bit of a curve-ball that I didn't see coming, portraying 'player X' he was enjoyable to watch even though it seemed liked he just wandered onto the set one day and was cast.
It was surprisingly dark at times, delving into depression and addiction - both drugs and gambling. There were some characters who lost everything and there lives took a turn better or worse and there were a few scenes that showed human nature at it's weakest, cruellest and more than once at it's kindest. There was also a nice swipe taken at Wall Street and the crimes they commit which seems to be becoming a common theme.
I would recommend taking a chance on this film if it doesn't really seem to be your thing because it's fast paced and thoroughly enjoyable.
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