brianjohnson-20043

The end of the story felt like it could have used some rethinking. But the first 80% of the movie felt nearly perfect and the last 20% was still fine even if it didn't seem as good as the first 80%.

In the very beginning I might have cut off that opening voiceover dialogue before it gave away some of the ending to the story. But the twists in the story were really interesting. What needed to be established for the story was presented in a pretty clever way most of the time, so that it didn't feel like exposition, while it still provided information which would be critical for the overall story. The characters were well written. They seemed very believable characters in the world they'd established.

The direction and acting supported the narrative nicely. And all for a budget of around 10 million.

Overall It was an enjoyable film. It felt like a good feature length black mirror episode. And that's a solid accomplishment.

It was story over style, and the style wasn't bad at all. 8 out of 10 is solid in my book.

Molly's game is a very mixed bag of a movie to me. In some ways I really enjoy it. The acting is great. Much of the writing is great. The story of Molly and her father to me is really spectacular. The scene between Molly and her father is really enjoyable and interesting to me. I also found a lot of the content involving the gambling and the initial moment of Molly starting her gambling ring and getting swept up into that world at first to be entertaining and sympathetic. What really annoyed me is Molly's resolve in the end to protect the privacy and secrets of the A list gamblers and her fixation on protecting her name. I also lost sympathy as she raised the buy in to such a high amount that she was asking for trouble. It also seemed kind of naive of her to not suspect that criminals might be the ones capable of gambling so much money.

Molly not wanting to out people in a book that she might publish is one thing, but not wanting the computer hard drive information released when she didn't even know they were a liability until later, was a priority of her's that I couldn't get behind. It just seemed to me that If she really cared so much about the lives of those gamblers, their families and her name, why oversee high stake gambling for them in the first place? Sure it was legal when done correctly. But the way their games were going it was a near certainty that it would ruin the lives of many of the players and their families and invite illicit trouble. For a smart character, it seems like a rather obvious oversight and contradiction. I don't doubt that the story is essentially true. But it makes for less of an interesting and sympathetic main story arc for the main character than the father and family dynamic.

This movie is slapstick stupid. I'm sure that some people find it funny. I didn't. I found the concept of the story alright. A deceptive couple who hates their family ending up being forced to visit their families on Christmas Isn't a bad elevator pitch for a Christmas movie. I found the storytelling explanation for why they had to visit their families this one year to be contrived and the first family was just stupid and surprising rather than actually funny.

I was entertaining a bit by the scene where the couple explains why they aren't married and don't want to be. And the hook of the couple play acting as a different couple to open the film was a fun hook for a movie. I think some of the cast are fine actors.

But the style of the storytelling became obviously stupid and slapstick at the first Christmas. I think the goal was for some of it to be funny. However I wasn't amused. I'm happy I at least didn't pay to see this in the theater or pay to rent it. I would have been a quick regret.