An award-winning actor, Jessica Chastain has been in a wide range of movies. Chastain’s acting career began just over two decades ago, playing a one-off character in one episode of the television series ER. After several years of playing smaller roles, the actor had a big breakthrough year in 2011. Chastain was in six feature films that year, including Take Shelter, The Help, and The Tree of Life. The Help earned Chastain her first Oscar nomination.
From that point on, most of Chastain’s most notable roles were based-on-a-true-story dramas. Her second Oscar nomination was for Best Actress for Kathryn Bigelow’s acclaimed drama Zero Dark Thirty, which chronicled the search for the 9/11 terrorist organization al-Qaeda and their leader, Osama bin Laden. It was not until 2022 that Chastain finally won an Oscar, and as in the case of her previous nomination, it was for a movie based on a true story (The Eyes of Tammy Faye). Now, another one of Chastain’s truth-based movies is getting reviewed by an expert.
Molly’s Game Gets A Good Accuracy Rating
The Movie Shows High-Profile Private Poker Games
Molly’s Game gets analyzed by a poker expert. The 2017 movie tells the true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-level skier who runs high-stakes poker games, leading her to become a target of the FBI. The film was written and directed by screenwriting icon Aaron Sorkin and features Chastain in the lead role within a supporting cast that includes Idris Elba, Michael Cera, Kevin Costner, and Jeremy Strong. Molly’s Game got strong reviews, receiving an 82% Tomatometer and 84% Popcornmeter. It made $59.2 million at the box office.
Speaking with Insider, poker professional Darren Elias provides his review of Molly’s Game, and looks at its accuracy. The professional explained that the private celebrity games in Molly’s Game are something that happens in real life, even apart from those run by Bloom specifically. Elias himself has played them with well-known people like Michael Phelps and Kelly Rowland. His issues with the film’s accuracy were related to smaller details, such as when a player folds “the nuts,” aka the best hand on the board. Overall, he gave the movie a 9 out of 10 accuracy score. Check out the full quote from Elias below:
So Molly’s Game, based on Molly Bloom, running a private cash game with A-list Hollywood actors, influential people. And this is something that happens in real life. I’ve encountered a few of them. I’ve played with Michael Phelps, Nelly, Kelly Rowland. It’s tough to infiltrate these private games if you’re not in the circle. Most of these celebrities or influential people do not want to lose their money to a professional poker player they don’t know.
And it is frowned upon a little bit to talk like that, it’s not something that I’d do. Unrealistic that a player would fold the nuts specifically. The nuts just means you have the best possible hand at that moment. But then again, if you’re ina private game, and players don’t really know how to play, they may not know that’s the best hand. If you’re opponents fold, you win the pot regardless of your cards. So, bluffing very much a huge factor. I can certainly believe something like that would happen in a big private game.
There’s always a Bad Brad in the private games. So that’s a good example of playing the strategy in the situation versus playing the player. Where, here if he’d have just known his opponent and known that the guy doesn’t really know how to play, then this becomes a pretty easy call. And this is certainly something that happens when players are not familiar with each other. You’re kind of stuck playing a basic, a more simpler strategy.
We see this character Harlan tailspin, lose a big pot, borrow a bunch of money, and kind of destroy his life. That’s something that, with experience, poker players have gotten used to, when we can distance ourselves from the results a little bit, and realize that poker is one long game where we don’t have to try to win the money back right away. Which I think less experienced players are more likely to go on tilts. And I definitely had trouble dealing with tilt, things like that when I was younger. And I was a lot less in control of myself and my emotions. Give it a higher rating than Rounders? I have to think about this. I would give Molly’s Game a 9 out of 10 based on those two scenes. Both scenes in a private game were things that could actually happen.
What This Means For Molly’s Game
The Film Has One Of Elias’ Better Accuracy Ratings
Molly’s Game ended up being one of Elias’ higher-rated movies in this video. Its accuracy score ties with 21, a drama about a group of MIT students who learn to count cards in blackjack, making huge amounts of money at major casinos. Interestingly enough, both of these well-rated films are based on true stories, a fact which may help the movies stay more accurate. Molly’s Game also had Sorkin on its side, who has adapted a lot of true stories (e.g. The Social Network and Steve Jobs).
Source: Insider/YouTube
Molly’s Game
8/10
- Release Date
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December 25, 2017
- Runtime
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140minutes