george.schmidt Review of Lay the Favorite

Lay the Favorite (2012)

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

[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:(