Author's judgement: 
For the writer, chess, three-seven and poker should already be taught in elementary school. They are not simply "games" but fundamental social relationship mechanisms, capable of providing all the tools useful for living healthy and correct relationships between individuals. It is used to say that you live as you play and play as you live: first of all it means respect for the rules, and then intuition, reasoning, knowledge of the opponent, rational use of time and one's mental and physical energies. For poker, in particular, it is necessary to add the meaning and value of the stake, money, capable of altering the whole "playing field" in many respects, that is, more or less, exactly what happens in real life.
This topic is discussed in Molly's gamebased on a true story by newcomer Aaron Sorkin. Played by a superlative Jessica Chastain, of rare beauty and ability, the film tells the story of a woman who from a failed promise of Olympic skiing, due to an accident on the slopes, begins a successful business as an organizer of gaming tables for very wealthy personalities. In this world, not all legal stories and situations intertwine around the green table and, in fact, the FBI investigates obscure connections with criminal organizations. Molly's story flows well, the dialogues are tight and non-trivial, the characters are believable and the whole screenplay makes for a pleasant vision, except for lengthiness on some dialogues that could have been easily cut in the general economy.
The film is very theatrical and relies heavily on words, reflections, comparisons between different points of view. Breathtaking match sequences with very high stakes could not be missing. For those who know this world, even superficially, they know how much adrenaline rushes at certain moments and the success of these films consists precisely in how much it makes the viewer rush. There is no comparison with illustrious cinematic precedents, however the ingredients of pathos are there. The protagonist, alone, holds court for the entire duration of the film and manages well to tell a human story which, however you want to observe it, is of great charm. Those who love this kind of film find, in some passages, historical sequences of memorable poker games. We mention two of the many that are in the history of cinema: The house of games, by David Mamet from 1987 (for the top writer) e Regalo di Natale by Pupi Avati from 1984 (unique among Italians). For the record we mention Player (Rounders) by John Dahl – 1998 e Cincinnati Kid by Norman Jewison from 1965.
The film tells a story that is typical of that world of games between gambling and intelligence (poker, from this point of view, marks a watershed between those who have the cards in hand in one way rather than the other) but also the human story of a growing teenager with a father (a staid Kevin Kostner) putting too much pressure on his daughter. There are interesting and non-trivial ideas that make Molly's game a film worth watching.
In the United States, released last year, it was quite successful. In Italy, where a population of gamblers lives (the figures are impressive: according to an article in the Sole 24 Ore "Commensurate with the Gross Domestic Product, our country's expenditure - in gambling, equal to 0,85%, exceeds by slightly that of the United States (0,78) and of Great Britain (0,75), it is double that of France (0,41) and more than double that of Germany (0,31)” it is probable to imagine that it could collect a good success.
