A dangerous game

Molly Bloom didn’t set out to run an illegal gambling business. In the new film Molly’s Game, based on Bloom’s best-selling memoir, Molly (Jessica Chastain) recounts the negative external influences she says have culminated unfairly in federal racketeering charges against her. Will justice be served? Will she perceive her own folly?

The film opens with the FBI arresting Molly. As she tries to convince an ethically principled lawyer (Idris Elba) to take her case, the film flashes back to pivotal moments in her teen years and the years afterward, when she operates a high-stakes gambling enterprise. A demanding father (Kevin Costner) pushes her hard in skiing training, but an injury (a film embellishment) during Olympic trials (true) ends her athletic career. What’s an ambitious, intelligent young woman to do with herself?

Molly happens upon work with a man who also runs an illicit poker game in Los Angeles. She learns his trade, woos his contacts, then opens her own “game.” Celebrities and other wealthy folks pay six figures to buy a seat at her table.

For nearly 10 years, Molly runs “the world’s most exclusive and decadent man cave” in legal fashion: She doesn’t skim profits, cheat on her taxes, or employ seedy characters. But human nature takes its course.

Screenwriter and first-time director Aaron Sorkin tells an engaging story with his trademark zippy dialogue. The film earns an R rating for language, drug content, and some violence, and Molly wears revealing clothing throughout.

Sadly, Molly largely blames her fall on daddy issues and corruption in others and doesn’t recognize the greed in her own heart. The finale suggests Sorkin, too, intends more diversion than caution. Still, the film sounds a warning for a society bent on legalizing all that once was considered vice: The best of intentions cannot prevent the sorrowful consequences of sin.