MORAL OF THE MOVIE

Only YOU can determine your own worth. Don’t let anyone tell you what your potential is nor what you can or can’t do (as long as you keep it within what the law permits).

WHO I THINK WOULD MOST ENJOY THIS MOVIE

Anyone looking for a quick-paced drama that will inspire you and give you a sort of inside look on how the other half live and think. More specifically, fans of movies based on true stories that will show you a side of real-life that you’re not normally exposed to if you live a more under-the-radar life.

ADDITIONAL NOTES/COMMENTARY

Due to popular demand (send in your movie recommendations in the link in bio), this is my review for Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut: Molly’s Game. If you know anything about Aaron Sorkin (writer of Steve Jobs, The Social Network, The West Wing, etc.), you know to expect great fast-paced dialogue between characters in his movies and great writing. With Molly’s Game, Aaron Sorkin delivers as always on every level you expect him to in terms of writing and a solid debut as a director as well. On a surface level, this based-on-a-true-story film is about Molly Bloom’s illegal underground high-stakes poker games and the extravagant multi-millionaires, celebrities (Fun fact: Player X is meant to be a portrayal of real-life actor Tobey Maguire), and mobsters that she dealt with. At the heart of it, however, the film is a tale of ambition and choosing to persevere despite what everyone tells you, even if that person is your father. There are two relationships in this movie that made the movie for me: the client-lawyer relationship between Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) and her lawyer (Idris Elba) as well as the father-daughter relationship between Molly and her therapist father (Kevin Costner). All three of the mentioned actors gave incredible performances that drove home the movie’s message of ambition and doing the right thing at all times even when you’ve put yourself in the wrong environment. I’ll avoid spoiling it, but there’s a scene in a bench in New York in the second half of the movie that really sold the overall experience for me and might be one of the best pieces of dialogue that I’ve seen in a movie in recent memory. Overall, Molly’s Game will show you through the trials and tribulations of Molly Bloom’s life story that only you can determine your own worth and that it’s still worth being a good person even if you’re caught up in a “bad” environment.