The film shows her rise and fall as the "Poker Princess", building poker empires in L.A. and New York. Her poker players include some of the wealthiest, most powerful men in the world: movie stars, elite athletes, billionaire business magnates, and, unbeknownst to her, the Russian mafia.
Molly Bloom is a world-class mogul skier with Olympic aspirations, thanks to years of strict training from her overbearing father. In a qualifying event for the 2002 Winter Olympics, she is severely injured, ending her skiing career.
Molly decides to take a gap year before attending law school and moves to Los Angeles. While living on a friend's couch, she becomes a bottle service waitress at a club and soon meets Dean, an ostentatious real estate developer. She becomes Dean's office manager and 24/7 errand girl, catering to the every whim of her vulgar and verbally abusive boss.
One day, Dean orders Molly to run his weekly underground poker games at The Cobra Lounge. Rich and famous men come to play, including Hollywood celebrities, hedge fund managers, and billionaires.
Initially unfamiliar with poker, Molly quickly learns the rules of the game and how to appeal to the players for tips. In particular, she hopes to please the most successful player, a Hollywood movie star named Player X, by attracting new players to the game. Meanwhile, Dean becomes frustrated by Molly's large tips and competence in running the game. He accuses Molly of conspiring with other players against him, and fires her.
Molly, having contacts through years of running the game, poaches Dean's players and creates her own poker game. Player X and the others abandon Dean to join Molly. She rents a luxury hotel suite, hires staff, and puts them on her payroll, verifying everything is done legally. As the games continue and Molly makes more money, she is pressured by Player X to raise the stakes.
Player X recruits Harlan Eustice, a skilled and risk-averse poker player, who is initially very successful. One night, after accidentally losing a hand to the notoriously worst player, Harlan spirals off the deep end. He becomes increasingly compulsive and desperate, drunkenly betting obscene amounts of money while suffering heavy losses. Hoping to break even, he gambles all night and through the next day, losing his life savings and missing his wife's birthday party.
By the time Harlan leaves the poker table, he has lost a grand total of $1.2 million dollars. He confesses to Molly that he is unable to pay; she encourages him to come clean to his wife and promises to help him find support for his gambling addiction. Player X later approaches Molly and offers to fund Harlan so he can continue playing, but only if Harlan gives him 50% of his winnings. Molly objects to this plan on ethical grounds, but Player X reveals to her that he has been staking Harlan's winnings for the past two years. He says, "I don't like playing poker. I like ruining people's lives." He also expresses bitterness that Molly does not return his romantic feelings. The next day, in retaliation, Player X drops out of Molly's poker game to form his own. The others join him, and Molly's poker ring collapses. As Molly puts it, she "lost the game."
Molly moves to New York City and establishes a new underground poker empire, recruiting wealthy New Yorkers to play. Her dealer convinces her to begin taking a percentage of the pot to offset potential losses. Molly, who had always been staunchly opposed to breaking the law but is nervous about another Harlan situation, agrees, turning her game into an illegal gambling operation.
Meanwhile, Brad—the worst player in Molly's previous L.A. poker ring—is indicted for running a Ponzi scheme, and exposes Molly's gambling operation to federal law enforcement. Molly is questioned, but refuses to reveal the names of any players beyond those who have already been named. She pays $500,000 in restitution to the Ponzi scheme victims rather than testify in open court.
The stress of the federal investigation and the high-stakes games begins to take its toll, and Molly becomes addicted to drugs. She becomes less cautious, accidentally allowing wealthy members of the Russian mafia to join her game. (The film alludes to Alimzhan Tokhtakhunov's association's illegal gambling syndicate and the "sophisticated Russian organized crime money-laundering network that operated out of unit 63A in Trump Tower in New York.")
Molly's personal driver/security guard asks her to meet some of his friends, who turn out to be the Italian mafia. Molly politely declines their offer to extort money from her non-paying players, using what is implied to be violence and threats. In retaliation, Molly is attacked in her home. A mobster in a suit savagely beats her, slams her head against the wall, and puts a gun in her mouth. He threatens to kill her and her mother if she does not cooperate with their demands. He steals the contents of her safe—including a large amount of cash and expensive jewelry—and leaves her bleeding and unconscious on the floor with serious injuries. Unable to go to a doctor or hospital due to the suspicion it would arouse, Molly spends the next two weeks alone in her apartment recovering from her wounds.
After Molly is healed and getting ready to return to the game, she gets a call from Douglas Downey, a player who is infatuated with her. He confesses that he is an FBI informant, and that he has told the FBI about Molly's gambling ring.
Molly is awoken early in the morning and arrested by 17 armed FBI agents. The $4 million in her bank account is seized by the government. Broke, homeless, and facing criminal charges for illegal gambling and colluding with organized crime, Molly returns home to live with her mother. She publishes a book about her story.
Molly tries to find an attorney to represent her, but several are already representing her co-defendants, and she does not have any money for legal fees. She asks around for any attorney who used to work in the prosecutor's office and is "not even a little bit shady."
Molly is directed to Charlie Jaffey, a high-profile New York lawyer who is initially reluctant to help her. However, his young daughter has read Molly's book and begs him to help her; Molly is her role model. He agrees. After he finishes reading Molly's book, he becomes more interested in helping her case, as he feels she has not committed serious enough wrongdoing to merit prison.
Charlie and Molly meet with the prosecutors working on Molly's case. He negotiates a deal for Molly to receive complete immunity and all of her money back, in exchange for her hard drives. However, Molly declines, fearing that the information about her players would be released and destroy lives—tarnishing her own name in the process.
Molly goes ice skating. She races around the rink, channeling her skiing instincts and releasing her feelings about her situation. She recklessly weaves in and out of the crowd, even after employees ask her to slow down. She taunts them, picking up speed and gliding around the ice, until she sees her estranged father and is so shocked that she falls.
Her father has found her to reconcile after years of not speaking to each other. Molly does not want to talk to him at first. He says he is not there as her father, but in his professional capacity as a "very expensive psychologist" giving her one free session. They have a heart-to-heart about their difficult relationship growing up and Molly's struggles in life. Molly asks why he treated her differently than her brothers. He confesses it was because she knew he was cheating on her mother, and he expressed his shame as anger. He tells Molly she was drawn to the world of high-stakes poker because her "true addiction was having power over powerful men."
Later in court, Molly pleads guilty, insisting on owning up to her actions to preserve the integrity of her name. The judge, deciding that Molly has not colluded with the mob or committed any serious crimes, sentences her to 200 hours of community service, one year of probation, and a $200 fine.
The last scene of the film is a flashback to Molly's skiing accident years earlier. She is lying on the snow, unconscious and bleeding. She wakes up with her father above her, surrounded by a crowd of spectators. Molly, always tenacious, brushes herself off and stands back up. Over voiceover narration, Molly says, "I learned something encouraging: I'm very hard to kill."
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who made his directorial debut on the film
On November 12, 2014, Mark Gordon's The Mark Gordon Company bought the feature film adaptation rights to Molly Bloom's memoir, Molly's Game, which Gordon produced. Aaron Sorkin was hired to adapt the memoir into a screenplay.[11] Bloom had already approached Sorkin, as he was her "favorite writer".[12][13] On January 7, 2016, it was announced that Sorkin would make his directorial debut on the film, for Sony Pictures Entertainment, while Amy Pascal also produced.[14] With this being his directorial debut, Sorkin specifically worked very closely with his cinematographer, Charlotte Bruus Christensen.[15] On February 18, 2016, Sony exited the project,[16] and on May 13, 2016, STX Entertainment came on board, and subsequently bought the film's US and Chinese distribution rights for $9 million.[17]
Casting
On February 18, 2016, Sorkin offered Jessica Chastain the lead role in the film, but the negotiations between them had then not yet begun.[18] On May 6, 2016, Idris Elba joined the film to star alongside Chastain. Sorkin stated that "the casting of Jessica and Idris in the two lead roles is any filmmaker's dream come true, they're two of the greatest actors of their generation, paired for the first time, and their chemistry will be electric."[19] On September 7, 2016, Michael Cera joined the cast as Player X, a celebrity poker player.[20] On October 17, 2016, Kevin Costner joined as Molly Bloom's father,[21] and on October 21, 2016, Brian d'Arcy James was added.[22] On November 9, 2016, Chris O'Dowd, Jeremy Strong, Bill Camp, and Graham Greene joined the cast as well.[23]
Molly Bloom herself discussed Chastain's portrayal of her character with ET Canada stating, "We spent a little time together. She didn't have much time for prep or research," Bloom told ET Canada's Matte Babel. "I was blown away by her performance by how right it was and how deep and understood I felt by her performance."[24]
Molly's Game premiered on September 8, 2017, at the Toronto International Film Festival.[2] It was also the closing film at AFI Fest on November 16, 2017, replacing All the Money in the World.[27] It began a limited release in North America on December 25, 2017, before expanding wide on January 5, 2018.[28] The film was previously slated to be released on November 22, 2017, before being moved to the Christmas date in October 2017.[29]
Reception
Box office
Molly's Game grossed $28.8 million in the United States and Canada, and $30.5 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $59.3 million.[4]
On Christmas Day, the film debuted with $1.04 million from 271 theaters.[30] In its first full weekend, the film grossed $2.3 million, finishing 13th at the box office.[31] The film expanded wide on January 5, 2018, alongside the opening of Insidious: The Last Key, and was projected to gross around $6 million from 1,608 theaters in its opening weekend.[3] It ended up debuting to $6.9 million, finishing 7th at the box office.[32] The following weekend it dropped 44% to $3.9 million, finishing 11th.[33] In its third week of wide release the film grossed $1.7 million, finishing 19th.[34]
The film also grossed a total of $4.5 million in France and $5.3 million in the United Kingdom.[35]
Critical response
On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 82% based on 304 reviews, with an average rating of 7.10/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "Powered by an intriguing story and a pair of outstanding performances from Jessica Chastain and Idris Elba, Molly's Game marks a solid debut for writer-director Aaron Sorkin."[36] On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 71 out of 100, based on 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[37] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−" on an A+ to F scale.[30]
Peter Debruge of Variety praised Sorkin's script, saying, "... Molly's Game delivers one of the screen's great female parts — a dense, dynamic, compulsively entertaining affair, whose central role makes stunning use of Chastain's stratospheric talent."[38] Mike Ryan of Uproxx gave the film 9/10, writing, "Molly's Game is a perfect story for Sorkin. There's poker, the Russian mafia, the Italian mafia, celebrities, and sports. The only thing missing for Sorkin's wheelhouse is President Bartlet. And at over two hours long, the film still feels tight and never fails to entertain."[39]
Writing for Rolling Stone, Peter Travers gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, saying, "Molly's Game bristles with fun zingers, electric energy and Sorkin's brand of verbal fireworks – all of which help enormously when the movie falters in fleshing out its characters. Still, in his first film with a female protagonist, the writer-director has hit on a timely theme: the tribulations of being a woman in a man's world."[40] Todd McCarthy of The Hollywood Reporter praised Chastain's portrayal of Molly Bloom, saying "Chastain roars through the performance with a force and take-no-prisoners attitude that keeps one rapt." McCarthy also stated: "Sorkin keeps things rolling relentlessly and gets fine results from the actors down the line [...]. [...] The film looks sharp and a trio of editors keeps thing pacey despite the 140-minute running time." It concluded: "One strong woman and many rich men make for a good show."[41]
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