Aaron Sorkin and Jessica Chastain a Great Match with Molly’s Game

Who is Molly Bloom?  An Olympic class skier, who after shattering her spine, became a “Poker Princess” running the most exclusive high-stakes games in the world.  Her games attracted celebrities like Ben Affleck, Leonardo Di Caprio and Tobey Macguire. According to Vanity Fair, her games also attracted Wall Street business men and the Russian mob.

In 2013, Bloom was arrested for her role in the $100 million gambling ring.  FBI agents who took all her money assuming it was made illegally, but it wasn’t.   Crazy…right?  Can you imagine having lived such a life?  What’s even crazier is that she served not one day of jail time and got a year of probation and community service.

Based on Bloom’s 2014 memoir by the same name, I seriously learned more about poker than I ever knew.  It’s actually quite fascinating how the game works and the type of people who like to play for higher stakes that I would never even attempt.

Let’s face it.  The real star of any Aaron Sorkin film is the dialogue.  It’s rapid fire and requires acting talent that can rattle it off with silky-smooth ease.  Sorkin lucked out when he got Idris Elba and Jessica Chastain.

Chastain does voice-over for much of the film (which you think would get old after a while), but it actually enhances the dramatic elements quite nicely.  Idris Elba as Charlie Jaffey, Bloom’s criminal defense attorney is faced with the challenge of must figuring out away for his client not lose everything…especially her freedom. That’s not easy when your client has a business that may not necessarily be legal.

So whether you learn more about Molly Bloom than what the media let you in on is up to you.  What you will find out is how a little girl from Colorado became the Princess of Poker and lived to tell the tale.  As Chastain characterizes herself (as Molly)…”running games gave me an identity, respect and a defined place in a world that was inaccessible.”

My Mom always says that knowing how to play poker helps one to learn how to judge others in life.  Well, Molly Bloom, you got mad respect over here for taking a man’s game and blowing it up in their face.

Molly’s Game, produced by STX Entertainment,hits theaters in limited release on Christmas Day and nationwide on January 5, 2018.