An Overlooked Jessica Chastain Movie Just Dropped On Netflix
Jessica Chastain is an actress that rarely misses. I mean, she literally just won her first Oscar last week
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Jessica Chastain is an actress that rarely misses. I mean, she literally just won her first Oscar last week for The Eyes of Tammy Faye after just missing out on the award when she was nominated for The Help and Zero Dark Thirty. But, even when Chastain isn’t getting Oscar noms for her roles, she still knocks it out of the park. This is very evident with her 2017 movie Molly’s Game, which just hit Netflix on April 1. If you missed out on this underrated Chastain gem, now is your chance to stream it.
Molly’s Game is based on a true story, told in the memoir of the same name by Molly Bloom. Chastain plays Bloom, who was a world-class skier whose career ended after an injury during a qualifying event for the Olympics. Bloom moves to Los Angeles to reset and finds herself running underground poker games. Her underground poker empire hosts celebrities, athletes, CEOs, and even mobsters. The movie follows Bloom as she builds her empire and becomes the target of an FBI investigation.
As always, Jessica Chastain turns in a powerhouse performance as Bloom. She could easily carry the movie on her own, but the experience is made even richer by great performances from the rest of the cast. Idris Elba stands out as Molly’s lawyer and Michael Cera has a surprising turn as a smarmy celebrity known as Player X who is based on the personas of several real-life celebrity gamblers. The cast is rounded out by strong performances from Jeremy Strong, Chris O’ Dowd, Kevin Costner, and more. One of the aspects that undoubtedly made the movie great was the snappy script from the acclaimed Aaron Sorkin. In addition to handling the script duties, this was also Sorkin finally stepping behind the camera to direct his first film. All of these ingredients came together to make a movie that is definitely worth the watch.
Molly’s Game is one of those rare cases where the audience and critics are almost in total agreement. The film nabbed 82% on Rotten Tomatoes from critics and 84% from audiences. Clearly, something works about this movie no matter who you are. Unfortunately, it didn’t do anything particularly impressive at the box office, bringing in just over $59 million worldwide. If you missed it in theaters like a lot of people did, now is as good of a time as any to check it out for yourself.
As mentioned, Jessica Chastain just took home the Oscar for Best Actress at the Academy Awards for her performance as Tammy Faye Bakker. She beat out Penelope Cruz, Nicole Kidman, Kristen Stewart, and Olivia Colman for the win, so she definitely had some stiff competition. The Eyes of Tammy Faye told the story of the rise and fall of televangelist Tammy Faye Bakker. It featured fellow Oscar-nominee Andrew Garfield as Jim Bakker as well as Cherry Jones, Vincent D’Onofrio, and more. If you want to see her in that Oscar-winning role, you can check that movie out on HBO Max.
As for what Jessica Chastain has lineup up next, fans have a lot to look forward to. She’s not done with the Tammy roles yet, as her next project is a TV series called George and Tammy. Chastain plays country star Tammy Wynette alongside Michael Shannon as her former ex-husband and fellow country star, George Jones. That show is set to premiere in 2022. After that, she’ll be getting back to the silver screen with The Good Nurse. This will be a creepier direction for Chastain, as that movie tells the story of Charles Cullen, the serial-killer nurse who is suspected of murdering up to 400 patients in his career. Chastain and Kim Dickens co-star alongside Eddie Redmayne, who will be playing Cullen. Tobias Lindholm directs. That movie is expected to hit theaters in 2022. After that, she’ll be co-starring with Jake Gyllenhaal in the movie adaptation of the video game The Division. That movie is also expected to hit before the end of the year.
While we wait for her next project, make sure you check out Jessica Chastain in Molly’s Game. The movie is definitely worth your time if you like taut thrillers with powerhouse performances.
