Movies: Molly´s Game

(Drivebycuriosity) - I am fan of Jessica Chastain and I adored her in films like "Zero Dark Thirty", "Miss Sloane" & "Lawless". So I watched her newest project: "Molly´s Game" (imdb). The fact that the film was directed by Aaron Sorkin, the ambitious writer of "The Social Network" and the highly political TV series "The West Wing", intensified my interest. The film tells in flashbacks the story of Molly Bloom, a former up-and-coming skier, who got arrested by the FBI for running high-stake poker games (I won´t tell more, this is a spoiler free blog).

I had mixed feelings watching the movie. I do not a gamble and don´t care about poker. This is a zero-sum-game - John`s gain is Joe`s loss - nothing for me. I prefer to invest in stocks with a long term horizon based on logic & analysis. But I was entertained how Molly conducted her exclusive clientele, containing Hollywood celebrities, hedge fund managers and such - a collection of interesting characters - and some of them I hope I never will meet. "Molly"  portraits a highly ambitious, competitive and entrepreneurial person and deals with risk taking & addictions. The film is partly a court drama, a high society flick and much more. The 140 minutes were too long for my taste and the film seemed overcooked for my taste.

Watching Jessica comforted me somewhat, even though "Molly" isn´t as strong as "Miss Sloane". But if you like gambling and you are fascinated by celebs you may get more out of it.