Molly's Game

This review may contain spoilers!

It's not a particularly eventful film but it is an incredible display of acting from the cast. I would give Molly's Game a 6/10.

This is a film of incredible intrigue; it does a great job of developing a dangerous world of closed doors gambling and criminal defence. It's a real downward spiral for many of the characters of the film, set in a world where everything is energetic and exciting yet the people are living in tragedy. This is an incredible character film lead by a cunning and brilliant woman who built an intricate business, yet the strength lies in that each character of the film shines and has an impact each in their own way.

 Jessica Chastain, who played Molly Bloom, is an incredible leading performer who guides the narrative exceptionally; Chastain is very composed and has a natural intelligence and force in how she portrays Molly. Kevin Costner, who played Larry Bloom, is a very tough and abrasive patriarchal figure; yet I loved that Costner knew how to make his role so exceptionally vulnerable and human. Jeremy Strong, who played Dean Keith, is a very unlikeable role and has some great moments of conflict with Chastain; Strong really develops his role to implode at a moments notice, making him unpredictable to watch. Chris O'Dowd, Brian d'Arcy James and Jon Bass, who played Douglas Downey, Brad and Shelly Habib respectively, are all really interesting and entertaining comedic roles scattered throughout the feature; they have a wild range of moments that show the debauchery and wanton greed that grip many of the players in the film. Bill Camp, who played Harlan Eustice, is a very likeable yet tragic figure within this film; the desperation Camp portrays as his role slowly loses everything to gambling is staggering.

However, the best performance came from Idris Elba, who played Charlie Jaffey. Elba brings forth a bold man of principle, very stalwart and stern. The strength of this character is that he has such a reasonable and steady moral compass, this is a truly good character who follows his values constantly throughout. Elba and Chastain have such immediate chemistry and bounce off one another brilliantly; this is a pair who come off as a great match and the wit displayed here is astounding. Elba's role is a fighter and the most memorable scene of the entire feature is his speech to the prosecutors in defence of Chastain's character's innocence.

This is certainly an interesting film to watch but it's long and you never really get why. The feature jumps between the legal defence of Molly Bloom and the events leading up to her arrest and nothing much happens, a lot of the scenes are quite similar and you certainly don't get very surprised by the structure of the plot and how events unfold. The cinematography is quite stock standard, the shots never aspire to make the film look impressive. The editing of the film has a very disruptive style; the cuts between flashbacks and flashforwards are jarring at times, with the addition of stock footage being more confusing than anything else. The score used throughout doesn't lend much to the tone and wasn't significant, the soundtrack felt barely present in addition.

Michael Cera, who played Player X, is unusually out of place in a serious role and struggles as an antagonist; Cera plays his role quite soft-toned and struggles to come across as intimidating or powerful. Michael Kostroff, who played Louis Butterman, is a weird whimsical film that seems a strange gag for what is essentially an important scene and character exchange; Kostroff plays a role that feels like it should be important but isn't used nor portrayed well at all.