Lay the Favorite (2012) User Reviews

Tried to turn an unbelievable true story into a fun ride but forgot about the stupidity

[napierslogs · 5/10 · 19 May 2013]

"Lay the Favorite" has many dissenters, most complaining that it's completely unbelievable. It's true, it is. Beth (Rebecca Hall) is a ditzy bimbo who quits her job as a stripper and moves to Las Vegas to become a cocktail waitress. A great idea! Instead, as soon as she arrives, she gets a very lucrative job as a sports bettor for a bookie who isn't a bookie since bookmaking is illegal. She's a genius with numbers and words.

She's also capable of getting guys to do whatever they think she wants. They need to do the thinking since she's too dumb to even know what she wants. The kicker to this story of an over-sexed, ditzy bimbo, numbers genius, sports-betting millionaire, is that it's a true story. I decided to watch the YouTube video of the real Beth Raymer reading from her memoir which this film is based on to see if Hall accurately captured her varying characteristics. And she did. She does the hair twirl and the dumb girl giggle as she describes the kings of sports gambling giving her job after job after job.

I'm one of the few who liked Rebecca Hall in this. So different from her usual indie fare. She has to ooze sex and play beautiful even though she has never really been described that way before. But in order to like this movie at all, you need to care about this floozy. Other than her ridiculous free ride through life, nothing really interesting happens to her.

Her first job in Vegas is with Dink (Bruce Willis) who owns Dink Inc. She loves him, he loves her … mind? Yeah, right. Apparently he does. So when she gets herself in trouble along with a nice, smart successful guy (Joshua Jackson) who doesn't seem to mind throwing his life away for her, he comes to the rescue.

Personally, I found Hall's sexy naiveté and Willis' extreme gambling entertaining enough to keep watching. However, the movie doesn't seem to play the unfortunate reality that this is a true story for laughs. When there's a story too unbelievable to be true then you should be making fun of everybody who allowed it to occur, instead the film just wanted the audience to go along for a fun ride. It is somewhat fun, it's also very unbelievable, and ultimately, pretty stupid.

Who Might Like This: Anybody who likes seeing ditzy bimbos succeed in life; people who like watching unbelievably true stories; fans of Rebecca Hall.

Number game

[kosmasp · 6/10 · 7 September 2012]

If I hadn't seen Rebecca Hall in any other movie I guess I wouldn't have been amazed by the transformation or her performance in general in this movie. You really buy her ... let's call it naive nature, she puts on display here. Bruce Willis is pretty passive, which works in a way, but not throughout. Joshua and Catherine are not used in the best way possible, but the main focus is on Rebecca so that can be forgiven.

Story-wise, there is not that much exciting or new happening, the jokes are not always working, but the movie has a low budget charm to it (if you can accept that and not look at it as a star vehicle movie with a big budget). It's a nice little movie, that has more potential than it shows on screen.

ensemble cast biopic that entertains, but not outstandingly

[HelenMary · 6/10 · 29 July 2013]

The pull of this film for me was the cast; Bruce Willis, Joshua Jackson, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Vince Vaughan... and that it looked a funny premise. I didn't realise it was based on a true story - the story of Beth (Beth Raymer) who leaves small town America to make a life for herself in the big city, bright lights of Vegas.

I always enjoy stories where girls build themselves up from nothing, doing whatever it takes and I liked Beth's outlook on life well played by Rebecca Hall light-heartedly and convincingly. Her character was flighty and silly, and it is nice to see such a story where horrible things didn't happen to her (lucky!) Other than the language in this film (the worst of which is from the Welsh lips of Ms Zeta-Jones, almost unrecognisable as American, Tulip both in terms of look and character) it's pretty innocent, some topless sunbathing excepting. Bruce Willis wasn't so Bruce Willis as usual and I liked his wayward yet lovable character and he brought some much needed contour to otherwise quite flat performances. During the film I did wonder why everyone was so one-dimensional but as it's a true story, they were I suppose just going with the story that happened - some of the reactions people had were unexplained, as were Beth's seemingly easy transitions. The gorgeous and talented Joshua Jackson was under-utilised in this film as an actor but seeing as it was a character-based biopic there's not much that could be done about that. Vince Vaughan managed to be exactly who he usually is in films, and Laura Prepon as Holly had a good, small part character role which she did really well in.

The film is about gambling so I didn't understand all that went on but there were moments where it was quite tense, given what was being done was illegal, but the end was predictable but as it's a true story why shouldn't it be? You cared enough about the characters that you did want a happy ending and it's nice that Beth's good personality and sunny disposition wins out and all is well. As films go - biopic aside - it's not that great as it wasn't particularly challenging or deep, and the main character's antics were naïve and rather silly, so you find her a little annoying, but she was plucky and from the point of view of the real person she did very well for herself. It is, what it is. It entertained for an hour or so but I'm glad I didn't see it at the cinema as I would have been disappointed as it wasn't as funny as I expected. It's definitely an average, middle of the road standard film on all counts; screenplay, direction and performances but it's worth watching.

This movie was awful.

[Thirdmango · 3/10 · 5 February 2012]

I'm generally a fan of comedies, and tend to prefer intelligent comedies to most dramas. Lay The Favorite wasn't funny, it wasn't entertaining and it felt so scattered that it was hard to follow any of the character's motivations. This felt like one of those movies where they just wanted to have a bunch of named stars so they could have fun on set. If the movie was allowed to be slightly slower or if they allowed the movie to be slightly longer it might have been able to gain footing but in it's current state by the time you've figured out why someone is doing something they're already four moves ahead of that. If you just want to see southern women depicted as ditsy sex objects and older men that wear Hawaiian shirts and gamble then this movie is for you.

not very good

[draconea2007 · 3/10 · 6 November 2012]

Rebecca Hall does an excellent job as a naive bookie in Lay. The other actors, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta Jones, and Vince Vaughn are great in their supporting roles, but.... This movie was poorly written: the jokes fall flat, the script doesn't develop enough so that the audience can care about the characters, the gambling is explained only enough so that gamblers can understand what the actors are doing and there is very little plot action that's not inside an office looking at TV screens with sports games on them. Stephen Frears, the director, has done some major work such as "the Queen," and "High Fidelity," and i would think he was brought in to save this, but it's shot so plainly, like a made for TV movie. I get the feeling that this was filmed in a couple weeks and everyone involved wanted to get it over with as quickly as possible. I give it 3 out of 10 for Rebecca Hall's efforts and the fact that she comes off as incredibly sexy, but other then that, it's totally forgettable.

Don't bet on it...

[a_bum_whichiswhatiam · 3/10 · 26 June 2012]

Until a friend suggested going to see this movie, I hadn't even heard of it, and other than what I gathered from skimming the synopsis in the cinema-foyer listings-leaflet -it seemed to be some kind of comedy, and starred Bruce Willis as a gambler-, I wasn't sure what it was about.

And now, after sitting through all ninety-four incoherent, enervating minutes of it, I'm still not sure. One of my friends, who is usually uncritical and easily entertained, said he thought that "The Tree of Life" made more sense than this film.

Unlike Terrence Malick's "metaphysical masterpiece" however, there is no confusion here as to what the subject matter is (it's the life of professional gamblers), what is confusing is how that subject matter is presented, and how the narrative is (or isn't) constructed around it. For example, what was the intended tone of the movie, what was the film-maker trying to convey? Was it supposed to be amusing? entertaining? or moving? were we supposed to be excited, or to feel intellectually stimulated? Who knows. My main emotional reaction to the film was a kind of repulsion, because I felt like I was being exploited, like the film was insulting my intelligence and my basic humanity. Like I might expect to feel if I'd been suckered into spending an evening feeding coins to a slot machine.

The first 10 minutes were slightly amusing to be fair, but after that that it just descends into complete mind-numbing absurdity. You might think Vince Vaughn would offer some comic-relief but, for the brief appearances he makes, he's just going through the motions (though it's still the most convincing and consistent performance of the movie).

There was no tension, or intrigue, at all, for the first seventy minutes. I mean nothing seems to really matter to any of the characters, they behave so unrealistically, and incoherently. And when things finally seem to get real and there is some adversity for the characters to face, you just don't care because you can't feel sympathy for such pantomime puppets as these.

They could have gone more into the details, the mechanics, of the gambling operation, that might have been interesting, but they thought it would be better to pad the story out with completely vapid romantic-interest scenes.

Maybe, with the attraction of Willis, Zeta-Jones, Vaughn, (and Rebecca Hall's legs), it was thought that such things as humour, narrative direction, consistency and pacing, character development, etc., were unnecessary.

After seeing the movie, I learned that it was adapted from a book, that at least goes some way towards explaining why there were so many undeveloped, seemingly irrelevant details, obviously included for the sake of those that have read it. For example, Holly (Laura Pripon's character) keeps warning Beth that she is becoming "one of us", in the book there might be context for this but when you watch the film you're just like "what is this I don't even...."

But, even for those that have read the book, maybe more-so, this film will only bemuse and bewilder. While I'm informed the book was written in a 'picaresque' -and no doubt droll (not to mention self-deprecating) style-, on screen, without the benefit of a narrator, this translates into characters, like Beth, who starts off as some kind of cartoon-airhead-bimbo-stripper, sunbathing with baby-oil on her back, ending up as an extraordinarily articulate, mathematical genius, who goes on to become a writer... Rebecca Hall was a bad choice.

And another thing, I couldn't help feeling that this film was not-too-subtly trying to indoctrinate me. Maybe I'm just paranoid but, beyond just the obvious product placements (nice Mercedes being driven by Bruce Willis' Mr. Nice character), it's like they're glamorizing the lifestyle, and completely glossing over any moral issues, and Beth just follows the money from Las Vegas to New York to Curaçao -are we supposed to admire that, to forget about community, and meaningful relationships, just go where the money is and keep working and consuming?-.

Whatever, I've wasted enough time on this drivel already, please heed my warning and don't waste yours.

Engaging biography - not a story, though

[neil-476 · 7/10 · 29 June 2012]

Beth (Rebecca Hall), having drifted into private dancing (home visits leading to small scale prostitution) decides to leave small-town Florida and head for Las Vegas, where a more fulfilling life as a cocktail waitress beckons. Alas, cocktail waitressing in Vegas is a difficult nut to crack, and beth ends up working for Dink (Bruce Wilis) who makes his living from his sports gambling company. What follows is the story of Beth's progress, and her involvement with Dink, his wife Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones), journalist Jeremy (Joshua Jackson), bookmaker Rosie (Vince Vaughan) and gambler Dave (John Carroll Lynch).

The need to classify films is sometimes a problem, and this is the case here. The closing titles tell us that Beth married Jeremy, took a degree and became a writer: the film is based on her personal memoir and, like real life, is episodic and unstructured. So, while it is often amusing, it is not a comedy, while it is sometimes dramatic it is not a drama and, in fact, it isn't really a story at all, it is simply a recollection of a period in her life.

My main criticism is that as someone who is not a sports fan and doesn't bet, big chunks of this movie were as opaque to me as a movie with big chunks set on the floor of a stock exchange would have been. I understand that this is inevitable, but it was something of a problem.

And this is a shame, because the film otherwise kept me occupied in a very agreeable manner. Rebecca Hall is a delight. Having played serious characters previously, with a tendency towards the plain, Beth is a sunny, engaging, leggy, sexy pleasure, but all the characters are quite nice people (which, frankly, I find unlikely, but that didn't matter: I enjoyed the film anyway. And it was a pleasure to see Vince Vaughan playing a different character.

unbelievably bad...

[devinology · 1/10 · 25 November 2012]

Wow. Just wow. Easily one of the worst films (if you can really call it a film) I have ever seen. I spent the first half of the movie waiting for a punchline that never came. I thought maybe it was doing some kind of retro, pretend to be a B movie thing that would have some good laughs over how ironically lame it was. Nope. It really just is a B movie (and a terrible one at that) that somehow managed to trick big stars into it. I kept gasping in disbelief that the movie really could be that bad and still have big names. I thought maybe it was some lost movie that they decided to release now for some reason, but even that didn't make sense because even Bruce Willis' first movies were leagues better.

When I saw the cast list, I thought this would have to be at least okay. I mean it has B. Willis, C. Zeta-Jones, V. Vaughn, J. Jackson, and L. Prepon. All well know actors, and usually in decent films. I still can't believe that every one of these actors actually decided to do this film. It is just mind-blowing. This is easily the worst film of all of their careers, and the worst acting any of them has ever done. Even these stars couldn't overcome the script and make themselves look like good actors. If you were only listening and not paying much attention you wouldn't even know it was them, seriously. Then you would look up half way through the movie and it would blow your mind that it was these stars you were listening to, bumbling through their terribly lines.

Nothing about this movie was accurate or realistic at all. The script is terrible, the acting is terrible, and it looks like it was filmed by amateurs using cameras they bought from Futureshop. How did this movie possibly cost 20 million? I kid you not, Kevin Smith's "Clerks" looks like it has higher production value than this. No real plot either. No twists, no nothing. There is not one single interesting thing in this movie. I was only able to get through it so I could verify that it was bad all the way through. It is one of those movies you keep watching only because you just can't believe it is THAT bad.

The main character is played by Rebecca Hall (a complete unknown), and my god, what an atrocious acting job. Get ready for one of the worst I- can't-believe-they-put-this-person-in-a-movie performances you have ever seen. I feel bad for the girl working with such a poor script (even Willis appeared to be a bad actor in this), but man, I would be terribly surprised if she ever gets an acting job again, unless it is just for sex appeal.

I just can't emphasize how terrible this was. Just astonishingly bad. You won't believe your eyes. The only remotely redeeming quality is that Laura Prepon's breasts make an appearance, and I say this only jokingly. It certainly won't do anything for her career to get naked in this mess of a film.

The movie "The Room" is actually better than this, and it is widely regarded as the worst movie ever made.

Fun, entertaining, charming movie, but not for the heady.

[kmmillerjd · 7/10 · 20 November 2013]

Based on Beth Raymer's "Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling," this is a fun and entertaining movie.

A sleeper at the box office for sure, but for those seeking 90 minutes to unwind and forget about reality for a while, this film takes its viewers on a fun, if not entirely realistic, ride through the lives of professional gamblers.

Other reviewers have criticized this movie for being simple, but that's what gives the movie its charm. (The book is probably more detailed and was well reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and the New York Times Book Review).

Don't compare this movie to Rounders (Matt Damon & Edward Norton) or 21 (Kevin Spacey). It's not a drama with complicated plot lines, but a lighthearted, romantic comedy with a fun cast that's easy to watch.

So much talent, So little result

[SnoopyStyle · 4/10 · 19 December 2013]

Beth (Rebecca Hall) is stripping in private homes to make ends meet. On the advise of motel neighbor Holly (Laura Prepon), she goes to work for bookie Dink (Bruce Willis) and finds that she's actually quite good at it. She's good with numbers. People like dealing with her on the phone. And Dink likes her a lot. The problem is Dink's wife Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones) doesn't want him to like her so much. When Dink starts to lose money, things blow up.

When you consider the talents in front of and behind the camera, it's a wonder how things could go so wrong. Award winning director Stephen Frears is the biggest culprit. The script may need better jokes, but it's mainly Frears who couldn't extract any laughs from this. In the end, this is mostly his responsibility.

Rebecca Hall is doing a squeaky-voice fast-talking bobble head doll. It's completely fake, and leaves my head shaking. It doesn't fit her at all. If her mannerisms are meant to be funny, it got no laughs from me. Everybody else is doing a competent if not very impressive work. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bruce Willis could have been an explosive couple but they're not. The only interesting acting comes from Vince Vaughn who plays a wildman bookie.

Not much goes right in this movie. It is absolutely not funny. It is watchable, but afterward I wonder why I watched it.

A 100% fun movie that is like a comedy version of Two For The Money. The kind of movie you can watch over and over. I say A-

[cosmo_tiger · 8/10 · 28 February 2013]

"When you put your money down you can not pick and choose what bets count, cause all of your bets are yours. All of them, win or lose." Beth (Hall) is a small town girl who's dream is to be a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. After moving there she gets a job in sports betting with Dink (Willis). When she turns out to be a genius at it everyone is impressed, especially the temperamental Dink who thinks he has the perfect assistant. There are some movies that are important and should be seen to change things. There are others that are huge effects movies that are fun to watch but have no real substance. Then there are movies like this, extremely entertaining and fun from beginning to end. The cast is great and the plot is good. The best way to describe the movie is more of a comedy version of Two For The Money. Overall, there really is nothing else to say other then this movie is just 100% fun from beginning to end. I recommend this as a movie you can just put in and not think about. A movie you can watch over and over. I surprisingly give it an A-.

Don' Bet On It...

[bill-751 · 3 November 2012]

Clearly it was made just for the money and not the script. Don't play the odds. Just walk away from the table. Buy your date a drink instead. I just can't understand why this was made. Was it made as a favor so another movie gets made? Was it made as the actors had a deal with someone? This is part of the problem with Hollywood Don't produce a movie because it's worth making, produce a script to repay a favor? The acting is good for the most part. Love the dog, love Corbin. The product placements are shameful. Beefeaters gin, really? Again,don't waste your time or money and don't bet on it as this will come and go so quickly in the theaters, I'm glad I only spent only $9.99

Gambling is only fun when you win, not when you lose

[Ed-Shullivan · 6/10 · 4 November 2013]

Lay the Favorite ends on a happy note, but as statistics prove over and over again there are more broke and desolate people as a result of addictive gambling than there are happy winners. I enjoyed the solid acting in Lay the Favorite, and there was a Disney like theme involved, but some of the movie content is for an adult only audience. The movie revolves around a young ambitious girl named Beth (played by Rebecca Hall), who is trying to find a job that will fulfill her as a person and that excites her. Making house calls with her boom box and stripping for strange men just does not fill that void for Rebecca so she moves out to Las Vegas to become a cocktail waitress. Through a few chance meetings she ends up working for a private bookmaker who bets only on himself and whose name is Dink Heimowitz (played by Bruce Willis).

Dink is assisted by two of his cronies and a few female runners who lay his bets off for him with the Vegas bookmakers. Dink decides to hire Beth as one of his bet runners because she is young, bright, good with numbers, and initially brings Dink some good luck. Dink has a beautiful wife (played by Catherine Zeta-Jones) who does not appreciate the young bet runners that Dink prefers to hire and she lets Dink and the girls know to stay clear of her man. One of the other big gamblers who aspires to run his own bookmaking ring is a guy named Rosie (played by Vince Vaughn). Dink will deal with Rosie but he doesn't trust him because he believes all gamblers are only looking out for themselves.

I did enjoy the movie, but I felt it provides an unrealistic view of the life of the heavy bettor. Lay the Favorite portrays Dink and Rosie as two bookies who always seem to come out on top, and have no worries in the world. Although this is a comedy so it is not to be taken seriously I have a soft spot for gamblers as I have seen too many fall in to despair and a life long rut of quiet losses and sudden hibernation until they come in to a bit of money again so they can get back on the cycle of gambling for another run.

Beth eventually leaves Dink's employment and she also leaves her down to earth boyfriend Jeremy from New York (played by Joshua Jackson) and goes to work for Rosie on a sunny island. Beth quickly learns that Rosie is not a very nice man and that Rosie is who Dink said he was. Beth realizes that she needs to get back to New York and help her boyfriend Jeremy out of any potential criminal charges related to the gambling book that she asked Jeremy to oversee while she worked with Rosie on the islands.

The movie ends with a lot of lives having to rely on the outcome of a basketball game. This is by no means a Disney movie but it may as well have been since the movie's ending had everyone involved in a love fest. Heavy gambling as outlined in Lay the Favorite should not be portrayed with characters as nice and clean as in this movie feature, because this is not reality. Gambling has negatively affected too many people's lives and their extended families lives as well. There is a good Disney message with the underdogs attaining victory in this movie but keep it real folks, gambling is an addiction and an illness which calls out for a cure, not a romantic comedy.

Wasn't Funny or Dramatic enough

[Floated2 · 3/10 · 12 May 2016]

Lay the Favorite stars Rebecca Hall as an ex-stripper and Bruce Willis as an ageing Las Vegas bookie. But nothing comes good in the script. It is as flat and the writing is noticeable. We can now see why the film was not shown wide in America. The affection between Beth and Dink feels a lot more genuine, with Willis delivering a finely tuned performance. Hall bounces off him with comically goggle-eyed expressions but she comes across more clumsy than needed. This film is listed as a comedy and drama but it really is neither funny, nor it is as dramatic as one should be for a sports betting film. It is also utterly predictable, specifically its ending.

Extremely poor, often incomprehensible and feebly characterised filmed version of an interesting true story.

[barnabyrudge · 2/10 · 9 April 2014]

Director Stephen Frears and star Bruce Willis seem to demonstrate an uncanny gift for inconsistency. Frears' work ranges from the sublime (Dangerous Liaisons, My Beautiful Launderette, The Grifters) to the ridiculous (Accidental Hero, Mary Reilly). Likewise, Willis frequently lurches from the terrific to the terrible – every Die Hard is cancelled out by a Hudson Hawk; every Pulp Fiction spawns a Color Of Night. Given the involvement of Frears and Willis, one would be right to anticipate only two possible outcomes for Lay The Favorite – it's either going to be very good or very bad. Sadly, in this case the film falls into the very bad category. It can't just be chalked down as another dud in the Bruce Willis canon either – a number of other good actors sink with this ship, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joshua Jackson and Vince Vaughn.

Tallahassee lap-dancer Beth Raymer (Rebecca Hall) wants to change her life so, with the blessing of her father (Corbin Bernsen), she heads off to Las Vegas to seek work as a cocktail waitress. Her American dream doesn't turn out quite the way she planned, and pretty soon Beth finds herself desperate for whatever employment she can find (as long as it doesn't involve getting naked). Enter professional gambler Dink Heimowitz (Bruce Willis). Dink bets on anything and everything, placing tens of thousands of dollars per day on various sporting outcomes. Such is the extent of his gambling that he requires a team of lackeys to man the phones in his office. After displaying an unexpected knack for numbers, Beth is given the chance to work for Dink's organisation. She is quickly seduced by this lifestyle of high risk and instant fortune. The rest of the film traces Beth's adventure in the pro-gambling profession. She falls in and out of love with Dink; has various run-ins with Dink's savage-tongued wife Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones); falls for a sensible and well-organised New York journalist named Jeremy (Joshua Jackson); is fired and re-hired several times by Dink; and ultimately ends up working for highly unscrupulous New York bookie Rosie (Vince Vaughn), who puts her in charge of the Curacao limb of his illegal gambling racket.

From a quick scan of the plot synopsis, there's no obvious reason for the film to fail. It has a strong cast, an eventful storyline, and is set in the fascinating world of pro-gambling. The components are certainly in place for a good movie, so where does it all go so horribly wrong? The biggest drawback is the character of Beth, presented in the script as a totally brainless bimbo. Every now and then she displays a moment of sudden ingenuity which rings completely untrue. The entire story is about Beth (she IS the story, in effect) yet is by far the most irritating character in it. Having said that, none of the actors really seem to be firing on all cylinders. Willis seems jaded, Vaughn merely rehashes his loud and brash comedy routine for the umpteenth time, and Jackson gets a boring role and looks bored playing it. Zeta-Jones has slightly more to get her teeth into as the sharp-tongued rich bitch Tulip (some viewers might get a kick out of hearing her screech the C- word at her long suffering husband), but later in the film her character mellows out somewhat and quickly loses her appeal as a result. It seems ironic that Zeta-Jones chose this of all films to return to screen acting after a three year hiatus… can this really be the best offer that came along? The incomprehensible gambling jargon makes many scenes all but impossible to follow. Worse still, the plot never builds to a dramatic conflict worth caring about. Things just amble around meaninglessly for an hour and a half or so, then the film ends. Overall, Lay The Favorite is a waste of time and talent. The book upon which it is based (Lay The Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling) by the real Beth Raymer is reportedly a rather fascinating read. If that's the case, put your chips on the book… because the film is an utter donkey.

Unsure why these people had a movie made for them

[adammtwc · 4/10 · 12 November 2012]

***SPOILERS, ENTIRE STORY TOLD IN ONE PARAGRAGH*** Unsure why these people had a movie made for them, seriously.

These are just everyday people....and they got a movie made about them. Also something tells me, that Beth at that time was a little more wild then portrayed in the film.

This movie is about Beth (Rebecca Hall), period. Then she meets Dink, Bruce Willis. Dink introduces her to gambling, in Vegas. Dink has a wife (Catherine Z-J.), who doesn't really seem to have a true bonding with Dink. But who cares, its Vegas...so I sensed from the film. Things don't work out with Beth and Dink (gambling not relationship). Beth meets nerdy guy Jeremy. Then Beth goes back to Dink again (for gambling not relationship). Things don't work out again. She moves to NYC with Jeremy. She meets Rosie (Vince Vaughn). She starts the gambling again. a lil twist in the story and Bammmm, movies over....thats simple. I just told you the whole entire story. literally.

These are just everyday people, like you and I, and they had a movie made of themselves and somehow got Willis, Zeta-Jones and Vaughn to act in this super slow movie. It is not an awful movie! thats not my point. my point is, why was this movie even made? someone....did some major ahheemm 'under the table' work to get this movie made...hence, my hint at the beginning of this review that says, "also something tells me that beth was little more wild...." and so, if you got time to waste and want a little feel of Vegas, watch this. if you miss this movie, no big deal. There is no message in this movie. There is no core point. There is no reason to even make this movie.....why not a movie of Optimus Prime's life?, how about Bruce Lee?...how about me!? that dude writing this...you! the dude or dudette reading this!.....why Beth!?? nothing happens in this movie! again, not bad just why!

Wow that blew

[cwsbroncos · 1/10 · 4 September 2018]

Did anyone watch the movie before they decided to release it?

Offbeat and half-baked - Split the odds and wait for a rental (or more likely an airline flight screening); yeah that good:(

[george.schmidt · 7/10 · 11 December 2012]

LAY THE FAVORITE (2012) **1/2 Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn, Catherine Zeta- Jones, Joshua Jackson, Laura Prepon, Frank Grillo, John Carroll Lynch, Corbin Bernsen, Joel Murray. Offbeat and half-baked adaptation of Beth Raymer's memoir as a small-town lap- dancer (here in the comely form of Hall border lining aping Mira Sorvino from MIGHTY APRHODITE with her cartoon voice and bodacious body) who seeks a better life as a (wait for it) cocktail waitress in Las Vegas and winds up instead the prodigy of a professional gambler (Willis seemingly half-asleep here and a bit disappointing) who takes her under his wing when she shows her hidden talents with numbers as a good luck charm, much to the chagrin of his bitchy wife (Zeta-Jones equally sleep-walking her way here). When things go sour she winds up in a prickly situation with one of the competitors (Vaughn equally at low speed in what should have been a breezy cottage-industry add-on to his fast-talking louche douches) and a bland romance with a NYC journalist (Jackson a non-entity). What makes up the film overall is the better paced second half no thanks to the dodgy direction of vet Stephen Frears (um, THE GRIFTERS!) and screenwriter DV DeVincentis (GROSSE POINTE BLANK) with the cast going on automatic pilot. Split the odds and wait for a rental (or more likely an airline flight screening); yeah that good:(

Don't toss your 'Plan 9 From Outer Space' tapes yet

[hughdavey · 2/10 · 13 November 2017]

Even Bruce Willis couldn't save this masterpiece. The first half was pretty bad, but then something happened: it got worse. It was like a soft core 'Showgirls' but without the character development, tension, drama and humor. I was going to give it a 1, but I kept thinking about Laura Prepon sunning herself and I gave it a 2. Call me generous.

Wacky but nice.

[zalfunk · 7/10 · 27 March 2021]

Bit wacky. Bit weird. Bit of a change to the norm.

But enjoyable.

Not too much to get into but a different take on life within a gambling tale.

Wacky but nice.

Ps checkout the performance by CZJ. Least I think it was her??

Trash

[symmetrymis · 3/10 · 5 March 2021]

Dear god this movie is pure trash. No plot. No purpose. Nothing remotely funny. Nothing remotely close to actual betting. It's terrible

It's not about a poignant overly dramatic epic, its about real people and their real problems.

[mcbrideanjilyn · 10/10 · 30 January 2013]

OK clearly nobody got this movie but me. And part of the reason for that is you got millions of people out there who can't appreciate a movie unless it's full of catch phrases and one liners and dramatic emphasis and cornball speeches and overly dramatic acting, what this movie has is sooo much better. It has reality. Beth (Rebecca Hall)is a stripper from Tallahassee who wants to get out of her shitty life and find something bigger, something better. And well of course when your a stripper what isn't a better job right? So her big dream is to be a cocktail waitress in Vegas. And that is where it all starts. You see in this movie you won't find any phrases that will linger in movie history, or incredibly enigmatic characters that will be imprinted on our memory forever, what you will have is something much better, you will walk away from this movie with your belief, that if you want something bad enough you can make it happen, renewed and strengthened again. It makes you feel like if Beth a slightly ditsy but secretly smart stripper from Florida can make something from nothing, surely there's still hope for you. Beth encounters a myriad of people who all teach her something about surviving. One of the other critics of this show said "all she does is follow the money" well in reality, most of us don't have money growing from a tree in the back yard, we have to follow the money, that's how we eat! As Beth points out at one point in the movie to another person when he says money isn't everything, "that's always what people with money say." This movie is a slice of a small persons life. That's all, just a slice, a small slice of a small person, but that's why it's relate-able. These people are real, these events happen to people, that's why you can relate to Beth and why you root for her all through the movie even when you want to bonk her on the head. And at one point in the movie when one of the characters, Holly, refers to herself and others as "one of them" or when she refers to herself as "one of us" what she's talking about are "street people." It may be hard to understand but there are the normal people who go around doing everything that makes sense, and they generally do pretty well. They have jobs and cars and spouses. They are always on time for work, they work hard, they take pride in their work, they are honest, they don't lie and they don't steal. Then there are street people. Street people will tell you that they are loyal, and honest, and true and that they will always be there for you, but in reality, they lie to your face all the time, they rob you blind, while stabbing you in the back and sometimes in the face (sometimes figuratively and sometimes literally) and yet while they do these things to each other, they repeatedly deal with each other anyway. They work with and hire the same thieves, addicts, liars and back-stabbers repeatedly and don't understand why they wouldn't. These are the street people, the "them" and the "us" that is referred to now and then. Beth came from the street and wants to become a normal person, and she learns how to survive from the other street people whilst learning who she doesn't want to be. She meets 1 street person Dink who ends up becoming semi normal and a better person at the end, and she meets Jeremy, who is cute and incredibly normal and loyal to Beth to the end, and she wants to become normal like him and be with him and this movie is how she gets there. "Another critic of this movie said "your not sure if your supposed to be moved or disgusted or if it's supposed to be humorous or sad" realize that if you have to have someone tell you what your supposed to feel that that is very sad. You should know your own mind well enough to know if something strikes you as funny or moving or not without needing someone to tell you if your "supposed" to be or not. This movie is not going to hand you a moral on a silver plate, nor does life, you have to look for the lessons. This movie is based in reality, the other critics said that the performances were Luke-warm, but that's because they didn't get what the actors were doing. They were playing real people, not scripted characters. Real people aren't larger than life. They're just trying to live like everyone else. On the contrary these actors turned in phenomenal performances as characters they have never had to play before. Normal people. And they did it excellently. Would you ever say you would ever see Bruce Willis playing a weak ass-hole? No! But he does it so well and so convincingly that it's fantastic to watch.

Pay the performance

[tomsview · 7/10 · 20 November 2013]

The appeal of this film comes down to whether or not you like Rebecca Hall because she is in just about every scene.

I don't find her difficult to watch at all. Apart from a likable performance, she reveals sturdy, tanned thighs in a succession of short shorts. She portrays Beth Raymer, the author of the book on which the film is based, as an infectiously good-natured woman looking for fulfilment in her life, but who is also drawn to exciting and edgy pursuits.

She becomes involved with Bruce Willis' character, Dink Heimowitz, a bookmaker, who gambles on just about any kind of sport for high stakes. He gives her a job and she shows aptitude for the work. But Dink is impulsive, moody and married – to Tulip Heimowitz played by Catherine Zeta-Jones.

Dink fires Beth to save his marriage. With her newfound gambling skills, Beth goes to work for a far more reckless gambler, Rosie, played by Vince Vaughn. She also meets Jeremy, a comparatively normal guy played by Joshua Jackson. However, Dink remains her mentor and eventually helps her to win a critical wager that ends the film.

Movies can involve you in subjects that you know little about whether it's coal mining, bomb disposal, the stock market, deep-sea fishing, football or whatever. Usually, enough knowledge is imparted for the audience to appreciate the subject's relevance to the characters.

Gambling and the world of bookmaking are the subjects of "Lay the Favourite", but little is explained.

Admittedly, my knowledge of gambling is limited. I even have trouble filling out the form for a Melbourne Cup ticket during my annual trip to the TAB. I'm sure I'm not alone in this, and I must admit I lost track of what was happening in the story even at the end when the whole thing hung on Beth's wager on the basketball game.

This is where I think the script could have done a better job in bringing the audience up to speed. After all, Dink needed to explain things to Beth when she started out and it was the perfect opportunity to inform the audience without narration or tedious exposition, but the explanations are rushed at best. Interestingly, director Stephen Frears' brilliant "The Grifters" explained itself perfectly while dealing with a not totally dissimilar subject.

With the exception of Beth and Jeremy, the characters are extreme and quirky. They almost seem to be modern-day versions of the Damon Runyon characters out of "Guys and Dolls". Dink, Tulip and Rosie, amongst others, are all fairly idiosyncratic characters, but the quirkiness knob might be turned a little too high.

I think the critics were too harsh with this movie. Described as a comedy, the film is more whimsical than outright funny. I can see it's weak points, but it held my attention until the end – I wanted to know what happened even if it was confusing.

Cut your losses

[Prismark10 · 3/10 · 23 March 2015]

Beth Raymer (Rebecca Hall) leaves her exotic dancing job at a Florida strip club to become a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. Her ditzy personality looks like its not going to giver her too many breaks until she meets Dink (Bruce Willis) an underground sports bookie.

He sees through her bubbly exterior and discovers that she has a good mind for numbers and she places illegal bets all over the town. Dink regards her as a good luck charm but his wife (Catherine Zeta Jones) becomes jealous. Dink fires her and she goes to New York to work for a rival underground bookie who is being hunted down by the law.

The film is based on a true story but its poorly told. It spirals downwards as you increasingly lose interest in a largely predictable plot. Rebecca Hall looks rather old to be playing the lead and although she is energetic her quirks tend to be off putting. Willis and Zeta Jones do not fare any better. Vince Vaughn has a small and thankless role and only Joshua Jackson comes off best.

Its a light tale that is neither funny, satirical or even show the thrill of sports book gambling. It does not amount to much despite the star wattage and a usually reliable director.

Not worth a gamble (sorry)

[adamscastlevania2 · 2/10 · 26 February 2015]

(11%) A limp waste of both man's and the world's resources who's cinematic release came and quickly vanished away before the glue that stuck the lame and cheap looking advertising posters had even properly dried. This is one of those films that starts OK with hope of things yet to come, but any hope here is badly misplaced. Rebecca Hall plays a ditzy, quite annoying stripper who becomes a Las Vegas high rolling pro gambler within the blink of an eye utilising her Rain man style abilities that are mentioned once and never spoken of ever again. It really is amazing how easy it is to get a well paying job in this movie, so much so that in this universe there's no such thing as poverty and everyone retires at 22. Bruce Willis plays the boss of a group of gambling speculators, and even he managers to annoy with his character who doesn't seem to accept that betting on anything is massively risky and requires nothing more than blind luck to succeed. While Catherine Zeta-Jones and Joshua Jackson are hardly featured and play mostly pointless roles anyway. Overall this managers to be both mundane, dry, and strait-laced, yet still a bit of a mess.