Weston Library Film Club: Molly's Game
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MOLLY’S GAME 2017 141 minutes In his directorial debut, West Wing creator Aaron Sorkin marshals his hyper-verbal writing style adapting the 2013 memoir of freestyle skier turned gambling entrepreneur Molly Bloom. As played by Jessica Chastain, Bloom is an intense soul, having been instilled with a fierce competitive drive and ferocious analytical skills by her relentless sports father (Kevin Costner). When her shot at qualifying for the 2002 Olympics is wrecked by an injury that ends her skiing career, she takes a gap year in Los Angeles before attending law school. Determined to make her own mark without help, Bloom took a job as a bottle service waitress. Her drive and efficiency quickly attracted the attention of a hard-living real estate developer, who hired her to be his personal assistant. On call 24 hours a day, Bloom was soon tasked with running the developer’s semi-legal weekly high-stakes poker games. With her quick wits and total indifference to the nightly masculine posturing, Bloom started running her own games catering to a richer clientele that included hedge fund managers and movie stars. Throughout Bloom’s memoir and the movie, she insisted that she kept her activities within the bounds of the law, even as she delved deeper and deeper into the frenetic LA nightlife. Bloom would upgrade her operation by moving it to New York, making millions in the process, but her success would attract the attention of the mob and then the FBI, whose investigations would ensn
