It's Molly's Game but we will all want to play

One of the more frequently quoted aphorisms about movie making is that you should ‘show, don’t tell’. This makes sense at first glance because it is a visual medium, but it is more accurately expressed by the great Alexander Mackendrick whose advice is ‘show, then tell’. In his directing debut Molly’s Game, screenwriter Aaron Sorkin seems to have a new version along the lines of ‘show while telling about twice as fast as you ever thought possible’.

As you would expect from the man behind The West Wing, The Social Network, and Steve Jobs, Sorkin’s script rattles along at a phenomenal pace. However, he is sure-footed enough as a director to structure the film sufficiently well for the audience to keep up providing they keep concentrating.

In the best Sorkin traditions Molly’s Game offers a compelling insight into an arcane world; in this case high stakes poker. Based on a true story, Molly Bloom (Jessica Chastain) is a potential Olympic skier whose career is ended by a devastating accident. She takes time out, moves to LA and ends up working for a speculator who runs a high stakes poker game as a side-line. The game attracts some Hollywood high rollers and after learning the ropes Molly makes her move; luring the A- listers away she sets up her own game.

Eventually this becomes the highest stakes game in the world attracting whales – as they are known in the gambling world – from all corners of the earth. These include a couple of Russian mobsters who attract the interest of the FBI and this is pretty much where we come in with Molly under arrest and facing jail unless she spills the beans.

Sorkin’s structure owes a lot to movies like The Big Short (2016). The minutiae of poker are largely irrelevant to most of us but taking a leaf out of Mackendrick’s book Sorkin finds a way of communicating enough of the game visually, so we can follow the story – showing, then telling.

Telling the story through a mixture of flashback and flashforward Sorkin uses Molly’s relationships with two father figures to move things along. Her real father, played by Kevin Costner, is someone who has always demanded too much. Her surrogate father figure, her lawyer Idris Elba, is equally demanding but he is also the voice of the audience trying to make sense of Molly’s slightly implausible story.

At the heart of the film is a sensational, uncompromising performance from Jessica Chastain as Molly. It owes a nod to last year’s little seen Miss Jones, but Chastain builds on her work in that film to create a compelling character here. Molly Bloom is driven to succeed in sport and when that is taken from her, she is then driven to win in a traditional alpha male milieu.

If the ending of the film is a little pat – both father figures get plot resolving speeches – that is perhaps forgivable in such a complex narrative. The fact remains that Molly’s Game is a marvellously entertaining film with a terrific performance at its core.