Back in 2013, Hollywood was shaken by the news about the arrest of Molly Bloom, also known as the Poker Princess of Hollywood, was arrested (along with 33 other individuals) for being part of a $100 million money laundering and illegal gambling operation. Next year, Bloom pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of her involvement in the operation, so she escaped jail time and was slapped with a sentence of 200 hours of community service and a $1000 fine. But she still did spill about the operation in a book called “Molly’s Game: The True Story of the 26-Year-Old Woman Behind the Most Exclusive, High-Stakes Underground Poker Game in the World”, revealing the truth about the underground poker rooms frequented by many famous celebrity gamblers, including actors Leonardo DiCaprio, Macaulay Culkin, Ben Affleck, businessman and investor Alec Gores, and American banker, businessman, investor, and poker player Andy Beal. And her memoirs were put on film, too – Molly’s Game has been released this January worldwide to critical acclaim and has received two Golden Globe nominations, as well as a WGA and a BAFTA nomination.
Molly’s Game
The movie version of Molly Bloom’s memoirs was written and directed by Aaron Sorkin who has previously won an Oscar, a BAFTA, a Critics’ Choice Movie Award, and a Golden Globe for writing the screenplay of “The Social Network”. “Molly’s Game” has seen him in the director’s chair for the first time, against talent like Jessica Chastain as Molly Bloom, and other top names like Idris Elba, Kevin Costner, Michael Cera, Graham Greene, and many others. The film was released last year at several film festivals, including the Toronto International Film Festival, the AFI Fest, and won trophies at most.
The critics love this movie – it has an 81% “Fresh” rating at Rotten Tomatoes, Metacritic gave it a score of 74/100, and CinemaScore gave it an A- (on a scale of A+ to F). And viewers also liked it – it has an audience score of 87% at Rotten Tomatoes.
The plot
Basically, “Molly’s Game” is Molly Bloom’s story, who ran the most exclusive high-stakes poker games in Los Angeles and New York City. She went on hosting these games for almost a decade before being arrested by the FBI. It tells the story of her arriving to LA after dropping out of the US Olympic skiing team, finding work as a cocktail waitress, then being recruited by her boss, Darin Feinstein, to cater to the guests of a high-stakes poker game in the basement of his club. In time, the games have become increasingly complicated, with the number of high-profile players participating in the hush-hush games growing – ultimately, they involved actors and businessmen, athletes and other celebrities, many of them undisclosed by the author. And when the authorities put an end to the operation… but no spoilers, make sure to see the movie instead.