Saw this on a screener tonight and it's pretty damn good. It's Aaron Sorkin's directing debut, so it's a little vanilla on a technical level, but he also wrote the script and it's everything you'd expect from him in terms of dialogue and narrative. Some cheesiness here and there, but Molly's story is certainly unique and you get why it's something that'd attract the likes of Sorkin. If anything, the women in my family absolutely loved Molly's character.

Also, I don't play poker, but it at least comes across as super accurate. That, and all the celebrity's names have been changed (something that actually plays into the plot), but it's interesting to read up after the fact to not only find out who Michael Cera is essentially playing, but the names of many other celebs who frequented her games as well.

Overall, it's nothing groundbreaking, but comes across as just a solid, decent, crowd pleaser, one that hits theaters in limited release on December 25 and then goes wide on January 5...

That's a negative. No nudity. And honestly surprised it's even rated R.

I just read the book, it was pretty good. Who plays Toby McGuire in the movie???

I'm in.

That's who I was referring to in my OP. He's basically Cera's character.

Perfect, i figured that's who you were talking about.

Is that an excerpt from the book? Tobey seems like s miserable human being. Just ordered the book. Can't wait for the movie. Seems like it will be the best poker movie since rounders, aka the only good poker movie since rounders.

Can't wait to see this. I've played a lot of poker and I'm looking forward to seeing how realistic the movie is. I'll give one little story. I've played a few times with Ramonce Tayler. Being a huge 49'er fan, he plays 9 4 in Texas Hold 'em like they're pocket aces. He's actually an okay guy, a lot different than I expected.

Fair warning, there's not a lot of actual poker in this movie.

snowdog90 said:

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Junkhead said:

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Fair warning, there's not a lot of actual poker in this movie.

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No worries, I'm interested in all of it, the business aspect of it, etc.

Story 2.

Playing at a home game on a Friday night. Full table. 10 players, 2 waiting, dealer. Look up, 2 guys in hoodies and ski masks came in the back door to rob the game. First and only time I've ever had a gun pointed at my head. Luckily. one of the players ran out the back door, which made the 2 robbers anxious to get out of there before the cops came (if that guy were to call the cops). They knocked over the table, chips flying everywhere, and made us lay on our bellies. They took cell phones, cash, watches, jewelry... I was wearing a sweatshirt with a front pouch and my wallet was in it with quite a lot of cash.

One of the robbers checked my back pocket on his way out, then tapped my head with the gun and asked, "we get you"? I answered yes and they left the way they came. Sadly, I was up about $350, but nobody got paid what they were winning, just got the buy-in back, but at least I still had my wallet. Not a good night, but could have been much worse for me.

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Somebody tip off the poker game, possibly the guy that ran off?

Living Legend said:

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snowdog90 said:

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Junkhead said:

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Fair warning, there's not a lot of actual poker in this movie.

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No worries, I'm interested in all of it, the business aspect of it, etc.

Story 2.

Playing at a home game on a Friday night. Full table. 10 players, 2 waiting, dealer. Look up, 2 guys in hoodies and ski masks came in the back door to rob the game. First and only time I've ever had a gun pointed at my head. Luckily. one of the players ran out the back door, which made the 2 robbers anxious to get out of there before the cops came (if that guy were to call the cops). They knocked over the table, chips flying everywhere, and made us lay on our bellies. They took cell phones, cash, watches, jewelry... I was wearing a sweatshirt with a front pouch and my wallet was in it with quite a lot of cash.

One of the robbers checked my back pocket on his way out, then tapped my head with the gun and asked, "we get you"? I answered yes and they left the way they came. Sadly, I was up about $350, but nobody got paid what they were winning, just got the buy-in back, but at least I still had my wallet. Not a good night, but could have been much worse for me.

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Somebody tip off the poker game, possibly the guy that ran off?

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No, definitely not. Pretty sure one of the guys was an ex-player who knew the game, knew the security flaws.

Holy ****

Sounds like part of the last Punisher season. Are you in the mob, snowdog?

Thanks for reminding me why I don't play in those games anymore. The hour or so drive to the casino is totally worth it if I want to play.

Yeah, the Punisher gave me some flashbacks for sure. The funny part of it was that when they came in, most of us didn't even stop what we were doing, it seemed like a big joke. "He ha, you're robbing the game. Yeah, whatever". That's when they got really pissed, started yelling, knocked the table over. There was a really big guy at the table, and it seemed they wanted to make an example of him so that nobody would fight with them. They hit him in the forehead with a gun, cut his head open.

I'd always wondered how I would react in such a situation, and it was weird. It was like I was in a dream. Basically, I just ended up doing what they said, and luckily I had my wallet where they didn't look for it. So strange when you're just hanging out, doing nothing out of the ordinary, then out of nowhere, a gun is pointed at your head.

snowdog90 said:

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Living Legend said:

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snowdog90 said:

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Junkhead said:

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Fair warning, there's not a lot of actual poker in this movie.

---

No worries, I'm interested in all of it, the business aspect of it, etc.

Story 2.

Playing at a home game on a Friday night. Full table. 10 players, 2 waiting, dealer. Look up, 2 guys in hoodies and ski masks came in the back door to rob the game. First and only time I've ever had a gun pointed at my head. Luckily. one of the players ran out the back door, which made the 2 robbers anxious to get out of there before the cops came (if that guy were to call the cops). They knocked over the table, chips flying everywhere, and made us lay on our bellies. They took cell phones, cash, watches, jewelry... I was wearing a sweatshirt with a front pouch and my wallet was in it with quite a lot of cash.

One of the robbers checked my back pocket on his way out, then tapped my head with the gun and asked, "we get you"? I answered yes and they left the way they came. Sadly, I was up about $350, but nobody got paid what they were winning, just got the buy-in back, but at least I still had my wallet. Not a good night, but could have been much worse for me.

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Somebody tip off the poker game, possibly the guy that ran off?

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No, definitely not. Pretty sure one of the guys was an ex-player who knew the game, knew the security flaws.

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That is crazy. Some of y'all may remember hearing about this in the Chron years ago (2009 i think), but one of my buddies was playing in a shady game in a retail center when it got held up by 3 masked men...my friend ended up dropping one of them with his 9mm and I think wounding another. If I recall correctly, these men were behaving in a much more violent and threatening manner than the robbers in your story...I think they started pistol whipping one of the guys to make a statement and that's when my friend decided to use his CHL.

There are few things I'm more of a sucker for than an Aaron Sorkin script, but I loved this movie. Chastain was great, the movie flew, dialogue was everything you'd expect. The cheese factor was of course there and kind of took the wind out a little bit, but it's just a given in a Sorkin film.

I had not followed this any at all, so had no idea about Bloom's Olympic backstory. Saw Molly's Game after I, Tonya today. Had no idea going into that combo I'd be watching weirdly similar movies about the effects of Olympians parents pushing them too hard. Very strange coincidence in what looked like totally different movies.

Edit-Apparently Molly was not an Olympian? Her incident was at a trial. Not that I expected a true biography, but didn't the movie portray it as an incident at the Olympics? In any case, apparently I watched 2 quasi-biographies in the same day about an Olympian and an almost Olympian, and maybe Molly's dad should have pushed harder and physically abused her like Tonyas mom, and she. Ishtar have actually made it to the next level.

Boo Weekley said:

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snowdog90 said:

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Living Legend said:

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snowdog90 said:

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Junkhead said:

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Fair warning, there's not a lot of actual poker in this movie.

---

No worries, I'm interested in all of it, the business aspect of it, etc.

Story 2.

Playing at a home game on a Friday night. Full table. 10 players, 2 waiting, dealer. Look up, 2 guys in hoodies and ski masks came in the back door to rob the game. First and only time I've ever had a gun pointed at my head. Luckily. one of the players ran out the back door, which made the 2 robbers anxious to get out of there before the cops came (if that guy were to call the cops). They knocked over the table, chips flying everywhere, and made us lay on our bellies. They took cell phones, cash, watches, jewelry... I was wearing a sweatshirt with a front pouch and my wallet was in it with quite a lot of cash.

One of the robbers checked my back pocket on his way out, then tapped my head with the gun and asked, "we get you"? I answered yes and they left the way they came. Sadly, I was up about $350, but nobody got paid what they were winning, just got the buy-in back, but at least I still had my wallet. Not a good night, but could have been much worse for me.

---

Somebody tip off the poker game, possibly the guy that ran off?

---

No, definitely not. Pretty sure one of the guys was an ex-player who knew the game, knew the security flaws.

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That is crazy. Some of y'all may remember hearing about this in the Chron years ago (2009 i think), but one of my buddies was playing in a shady game in a retail center when it got held up by 3 masked men...my friend ended up dropping one of them with his 9mm and I think wounding another. If I recall correctly, these men were behaving in a much more violent and threatening manner than the robbers in your story...I think they started pistol whipping one of the guys to make a statement and that's when my friend decided to use his CHL.

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Wow, that sounds a lot hairier than what I went through. We had guys that carried, but not that night. I think that's a good thing. These two guys were kids, definitely early 20's, and if someone pulled on them, they might have gone crazy and shot everybody. Who knows.

Things changed at that game after that night - security cameras, locked doors at all times, visible machine gun in the corner. Good times.

Finished the book yesterday. I used to play a ton of poker and had heard stories of her game. Was a very interesting read. Also remember her brother playing at CU.

Book definitely left out some important details as it was written while she awaited to trial. Book doesn't mention at all that she took a rake some games.

Anyone that followed poker about ten years ago knows many of the names, including the rich businessman. Many made appearances in High Stakes Poker, which was the best poker tv made.

I look forward to seeing the movie.

Ha, yeah, to be honest, I hate any game involving cards. I think I tried to play poker once and quit after about two minutes. Anything having to do with cards drives me up a wall and I have no idea why.

As for the quality of the of the movie itself, I've soured on it a bit as well. I initially saw it with a bunch of family who loved it, which swayed me a bit, but the more I've thought about it since, the worse it's become. And I wasn't really super into it to begin with.

Yea I didn't hate it and it was enjoyable/entertaining. But was too cheesy. If they had made it a little grungier/darker it would've been better.

Also, her boss in the film is nothing like he's portrayed in the book. I think they did a very ooor job with that character.

mavsfan4ever said:

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No offense tctts, but it's obvious you don't play poker if you thought this movie was accurate in regards to the poker hands. They literally have a player fold the nuts which would never happen (if you have the nuts you have the best hand possible), and every hand they show is made for tv drama that you can tell they just drew up for non-poker player audiences. Rounders is still the only movie that comes close to being realistic and nothing comes close (and it's probably my favorite movie of all time).

I had read the book before hand so knew what to expect from the movie. I was not bored at all, but I didn't love it. They spent way too much time trying to make Molly look like a great person and didn't spend enough time on her running the game (even my wife was annoyed with this). The book was not amazing (but was a quick entertaining read). But the book was more entertaining than movie because the book focused on her running he game.

I'd give it a c+ or b-

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In the book she refers to the hits, incorrectly, as the winning hand and that he folded the winner. More about a poor definition of the nuts than someone actually folding the nuts.

Haven't seen the movie. Do they show the hand?

They don't show what he held as the nuts, but she mentions that he had the nuts n the movie.

mavsfan4ever said:

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They don't show what he held as the nuts, but she mentions that he had the nuts n the movie.

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Think that's just poor poker research, matching her book.

How she was the little girl's hero I still don't get. Interesting as at the trial her lawyer goes 'Wait for it...'
All in all all a B and a good watch.