Molly's Game 2017

     This film is based on the true story of Molly Bloom and the book she wrote.  She was an Olympic-class skier and she went from that to running the most exclusive high-stakes poker game.  She became a target for the Russian mob and also the FBI.  17 FBI agents arrested her in the middle of the night armed with automatic weapons.  The government seized her money and she doesn’t have the money to hire an attorney.  In her book but she left out a LOT of information, especially names.  She will go to trial but she will have to pick and choose what she says.  She's determined to protect the men and their families from a public scandal.  Her players were Hollywood personalities, sport stars and business titans. The game players were also important men with the money to bet and the money to lose.

     Larry Bloom, Molly’s father is a clinical psychologist and professor at Colorado State University.  Char Bloom, her mother was a ski and snowboard instructor plus a professional fly-fisher with a line of clothing.  Molly Bloom’s younger brother Jeremy was also a skier.  He was a 3-time World Champion, 2-time Olympian and 11-time World Cup Gold Medalist.  Inducted into the US Skiing Hall of Fame in 2013.  He founded marketing software company Integrate.  Molly started out in Los Angeles as a cocktail waitress and she delayed her plans several time to go to law school.  Later, Darin Feinstein hired her in 2004 and he is one of the co-owners of The Viper Room.  Tobey Maguire approached Darin about hosting a high-stakes poker game in the basement of the club.  Bloom was his secretary but she was asked to take on the additional task of vetting the players, catering and managing the game.  She was forced out of the game job because Darin wanted to stop paying her for the secretarial portion of her job.  She wasn't going along with this cut in money and she formed her own business in 2007.  In 2009, she organized games in New York with women she recruited to help her and the games were smaller than her LA games.  After raids in Manhattan, she sifted her operation to Long Island.  She was served a $116,133 tax lien for failing to pay appropriate taxes.  I thought this film needed some scenes left on the cutting floor since I think it’s too long.  If you can set up these games and you try to keep it legal and you file tax returns, what’s the beef?  3*(This movie is OK)

140 min, Bio directed by Aaron Sorkin with Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Jeremy Strong, Chris O'Dowd, J.C. MacKenzie Brian d'Arcy James, Bill Camp Graham Greene, Justin Kirk,  Angela Gots, Natalie Krill.

Note: Imdb 7.5 out of 10, 82% critic 84% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, Amazon 4.3* out of 5* with 458 reviews, Metacritic 71 out of 10 with 46 critics 7.5 out of 10 with 162 reviews, Roger Ebert 3*, Rolling Stone 3* out of 4* Peter Travers, The Telegraph 3* out of 5*.

Special Note:  Filmed in Collingwood, Toronto, Ontario, Canada; Park City, Utah; New York City, New York.  It has been reported that Player X is based on Tobey Maguire.  Molly Bloom requested that Aaron Sorkin ask Jessica Chastain to play her in this film.  Bloom was banned from Canada because of her plea but this movie and the screening were in Canada.  She was granted a 48-hour pass to visit Canada for the movie premier at TIFF.  All of the extras in the card games are professional poker players.   Bloom said the most money she’d ever seen lost in a card game in one night was $100 million and the debt was settled the following day.  The actors played poker between takes with the professionals.  The extras were usually paid $90 for a 12-hour workday. Adding their winnings made them the highest paid people on the set.  Molly’s book with the same title has 4.5* out of 5* with 408 reviews.