After creating cultural touchstones like The West Wing and A Few Good Men (and cult favorites like Sports Night) Aaron Sorkin focused his attention on book-to-film adaptations. Specifically, books that seemed difficult or impossible to adapt into motion pictures. After defying the odds, and winning accolades, with his adaptations of both Moneyball, The Social Network, and Steve Jobs, Sorkin tried his hand at another book adaptation, Molly’s Game: From Hollywood’s Elite to Wall Street’s Billionaire Boy’s Club, My High-Stakes Adventure In The World of Underground Poker.
The resulting adaptation, which Sorkin also directed, serves as both an expose of the grey-market world of big-money poker games, as well as a fascinating character study of the woman at the center of the film, Molly Bloom. Sorkin loves telling stories about a mind at work and Bloom is no exception. Whatever expectations you may have regarding her or underground poker, prepare to have them upended. That Bloom not only survived her adventures but also wrote them down in a compelling memoir is revealing, but by no means does that spoil this story.
I’m a Sorkin fan, so take what I write with an industrial-sized grain of salt, but I think this, his directorial debut, is well worth a watch. Best of all: we have a DVD available in our collection to check out for free!
-Mike
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