The kids’ bedtime was a little bit later than usual, so my after-bedtime time-for-myself was cut a bit short. I was pretty tired, and had settled on the fact that I would probably only watch an hour or so of Molly’s Game and then go to bed. But that didn’t happen. I ended up watching the whole thing – no stops for breaks or snacks or anything (which is common for me). It was a very engaging movie, and I just genuinely wanted to know what happened. So in that way, it was successful as a film. It’s not without it’s issues though. Jessica Chastain seems to be getting typecast lately. She’s good in this movie, but it’s a character that we’ve seen her play a few times already. And I don’t think the movie needed to be almost two and half hours long. Some of the childhood flashbacks dragged a bit, and so did some of the present tense scenes. Not to mention the occasional cheese (like the whole the ice rink scene). But when the film finds its stride (during the main storyline mostly), it really crackles. This was Aaron Sorkin’s first time behind the camera, so I imagine his pacing will continue to get better as he directs more films, if he chooses to. I think he should.

3.5 out of 5 stars