Featured Blu-ray and DVD Review: Molly’s Game
April 9, 2018
Molly’s Game - Buy from Amazon: DVD or Blu-ray Combo Pack
Jessica Chastain started her acting career in Jolene, a movie that is not good. She was the best part of the movie and it was clear she had movie star potential. The next year she got an Oscar nomination for The Help and the year after that she got her second Oscar nod for Zero Dark Thirty. Nearly every year since, she’s made at least one film that has earned some Award season buzz, but hasn’t been able to climb back to Oscar contender. Molly’s Game was the latest to get some Awards Season buzz for the actress and she even got a Golden Globe Nomination, but no Oscar recognition. Is the movie good, but not Awards Season good? Or did it deserve better?
The film begins with Molly Bloom skiing at a competition while we hear her talk about a survey of sport professionals, who were asked what’s the worst thing that could happen. ... And the movie uses the Canucks loss in Game 7 of the 2011 Stanley Cup finals as an example. That season could be used as proof that the officiating in the NHL is biased. Late in the regular season, the Bruin’s Chara hit Pacioretty in a way that could have ended Pacioretty’s career, and it ended his season due to the severe concussion. It was 100% clearly a dirty hit, but he got no suspension. In the Stanley Cup Final Aaron Rome hit Horton a second after Horton had passed the puck. It was an open ice hit, but a hard hit, and Horton also got a severe concussion. Rome got a four-game suspension for a late hit. It was the first multi-game suspension in Stanley Cup Final history. There’s no way you can look at the two hits and claim Rome’s was the worse of the two. You can’t possibly argue it was the worst hit in history of the Stanley Cup Finals. Yet the Canucks lost an important piece of their defense, while Chara was able to play the rest of the season helping their team win the Stanley Cup. ... Moving on.
Due to a fluke accident, Molly Bloom’s chance at Olympic glory ended with a devastating injury. The film then flash forwards 12 years to when she was arrested, before flashing back to just a year after the accident. She decides to postpone going to law school for a year and travels to Los Angeles instead. There she gets a job as a cocktail waitress and quickly gets a second job as an assistant to Dean Keith, a guy who’s quickly going broke, mainly because he cares more about looking rich than doing what it takes to make money. Dean has only one thing going for him, connections. When he sets up a poker game, the truly rich and famous want to be there. And now, he has Molly to run the games.
Since we know about Molly’s arrest, we know no matter how good the game is to Molly to begin with, it all goes south in the end. And since the film bounces between young Molly training with her Dad, her rise in the poker world, and her discussions with her lawyer in the end, it’s really hard to talk about details without hitting spoilers.
Molly’s Game is one of those movies that is so close to greatness that it is frustrating. The film was written by Aaron Sorkin and Sorkin is a master of dialogue and he earned an Oscar nomination for this screenplay. I do wonder if Jessica Chastain’s voice-over was a late edition to the screenplay, because without it, not a lot of that snappy dialogue would be delivered by Jessica Chastain. In many of the big moments in the movie, Molly is being talked to or talked about, which makes the titular character feel like a supporting character in her own life and this is a shame, as Jessica Chastain gives another amazing performance.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the supporting cast. One of those moments I described above was with Idris Elba and after watching the movie, I was surprised he didn’t get at least a little Awards Season recognition. There’s no real weak point in this movie, but the total doesn’t live up to the sum of its parts.
The only extra on the DVD / Blu-ray is a 3-minute featurette. That is deeply disappointing.
Molly’s Game is an absolute must watch, especially if you are a fan of Jessica Chastain and / or Aaron Sorkin. However, it doesn’t quite reach its full potential, while the DVD and Blu-ray Combo Pack don’t have a lot of extras, which hurts its chances of being the Pick of the Week.
Video on Demand
The Movie
The Extras
The Verdict
Filed under: Video Review, Molly’s Game, Kevin Costner, Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Jeremy Strong, Aaron Sorkin, Samantha Isler