Molly's Game - Movie

I enjoyed it because of the "heavy-handed Sorkin dialogue." I love the West Wing and can't get enough of his style.

 

Just watched it and thoroughly enjoyed it. My favorite of the recent crop. I like that fact, that under the right hand, smart movies don't have to be boring and just as exciting as anyone features space ships or AK47s.

 

Wow, it was 2 hours and 20 minutes. I didn't notice it's length at all.

 

No kidding! Meek little Toby Maguire? I never would’ve guessed that in 1 million years. Doesn’t his character say he doesn’t enjoy winning money he enjoys destroying lives? I never would’ve guessed Toby Maguire. I was wondering what star it might be. I thought it was most likely Charlie Sheen or Steven Segal or someone like that.

 

Yep, although the articles that disclose it point out that Maguire didn’t necessarily say and do everything Mr. X does. But Tobey reportedly is an unbelievably sharp poker player.

 

And he acts in front of a green screen....

 

Tobey actually started the game that Molly ran, in collaboration with the guy who owned the Viper Room.

He didn't initiate kicking her out of it, as Mr. X does in the movie, but he did call her to tell her she was out.

 

Where did you learn all that, if you don’t mind saying?

 

There's some movie vs. real life info here, although I must have read about Maguire starting the game elsewhere:
The True Story Behind the Movie Molly's Game

 

So, if a woman doesn't have a love life, she and her accomplishments are diminished?

 

Of course not. I was merely echoing the words of critic David Edelstein, whose review I read before seeing the movie: “The only thing I didn’t buy is Molly’s apparent lack of a romantic life, as if she’s somehow keeping herself ‘pure’ for the game.”

Also, as I wrote earlier, I would have loved to see Chastain’s legs wrapped around someone’s head again.

 

Player X is a composite of several Hollywood actors who took part in the game, including DiCaprio, Damon and Affleck (the elder), but the main source of inspiration is Tobey Maguire, who has basically stopped his acting career to focus on stuff like poker playing. Apart from being the narrator for The Boss Baby, he hasn't done anything since 2014, and he basically accepted only six proper projects since Spider-Man 3 in 2007. Maguire was the one who had the arrangement with the player into some debt (minor producer Houston Curtis, who lost $1m in one night) with Maguire getting half of his wins in exchange for something like $300k in cash.
Affleck or Damon tended to be polite and focused on being good players. DiCaprio didn't care very much (he was brought in by Maguire to lure "whales", the multimillionnaires described in the film), and Maguire, is apparently every bit as smart, manipulative, mean and stingy as Player X in the film.

 

I think as busy as she was setting up, preparing and watching over the games along with having to stay up through the night which included lots of drugs probably replaced the romance in her life.

 

Yeah. And Molly certainly doesn’t come across as the needy type who needs to be in a relationship all the time.

 

I really dug this movie. It was free on demand. Can’t beat that price.