Positive Early Reviews For 'Molly's Game'

Aaron Sorkin's highly anticipated movie "Molly's Game" hit the US theatres on Christmas day and the early reviews seem to indicate that European poker fans might be in for a late Christmas present next week, when the movie premiers in the Old Continent cinemas.

"Molly's Game" is certified fresh on Rotten Tomatoes with 109 positive and 27 negative reviews giving it an impressive 80% critics score. Moviegoers liked the film even better awarding it the audience score of 85%. "Molly's Game" is reportedly full of amazing performances, snappy Sorkin-style dialogue, and it might very well be the best poker movie since "Rounders".

Amazing Performances and Sorkin Being Sorkin

Most reviewers are quick to point out that the performances from both Jessica Chastain (playing the titular Molly Bloom) and Idris Elba (playing the part of a lawyer Charlie Jaffey) are arguably the strongest part of the movie. Even though "Molly's Game" is far from being a giant tent-pole release, Sorkin managed to attract quite a lot of talent and the stellar cast no doubt helped to make his directorial debut a successful one.

Speaking of Sorkin, "Molly's Game" seems to be a Sorkin-style-movie through and trough, which, depending on your personal preferences, might either be a very good or a very bad thing. Aaron Sorkin has a very distinct style of writing. His dialogue is extremely witty and snappy, Sorkin's characters talk like heavily caffeinated master-erudites, which can cause some fans and critics to occasionally roll their eyes, though most of them seem to enjoy this unique approach. Turns out that a movie that was written and directed by Aaron Sorokin isn't all that different from a movie written by Aaron Sorokin - he just managed to cut out the middleman.

Even though "Molly's Game" has some minor issues - the aforementioned trademark Sorkin-ness being one of them - the movie has more than enough positive things going for it to make up for them. Like the Sara Michelle Fetters wrote in her review for the MovieFreak.com:

"If Molly's Game doesn't quite have what would typically be considered a winning hand, it bluffs just well enough to still take the pot."

Poker Consultants Needed!

Unfortunately for diehard poker fans, "Molly's Game" is yet another movie in a dire need of some quality poker consultants. Mike Sexton pointed out in his small twitter rant that while he enjoyed the movie as a whole, there were a few moments that ruined the experience for him.

Things like that could've easily been avoided and the fact that almost every poker movie ever made, had similar issues is truly mind boggling. Whether it's an illegal raise size in "Molly's Game" or Mike McDermott somehow 5bet bluffing Johnny Chan with 10 big blinds in "Rounders", poker players shouldn't be forced to go above and beyond in order to suspend their disbelief - no matter how god the writing or the story of a particular poker movie is. With all that being said, it looks like "Molly's Game" is well worth a watch even if we account for the minor poker-related blunders.