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Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joshua Jackson, Laura Prepon ... see more see more... , Vince Vaughn , Joel Murray , Hugo Armstrong , Corbin Bernsen , Earl Maddox , Rio Hackford , Jo Newman , Frank Grillo , Wayne Pére , Adam Kozlowski , Al Brown , Thom Sesma , Rusty Myers , Wendell Pierce , John Mourain , Ritchie Montgomery , Rene Piazza , Adruitha Lee , Tracy Miller , Matt Pebler , Jerry Katz , John Carroll Lynch , Ambyr Childers , Robert Steinberg , Lara Grice , William Sabourin OReilly , Alexey Marti , Lazaro Gutierrez , Dominique Devernay , Darcel Moreno , Deven May , John Salvatore , Andrea Frankle , Yolanda Windsay , Robert Hoerner

Beth Raymer leaves her dancing job at a Florida strip club to become a Las Vegas cocktail waitress. Not exactly an ideal career choice, but her borderline-ditzy personality doesn't give her many optio... read more read more...ns. In walks Dink, a professional sports bettor who sees through her bubbly exterior and offers her a job placing wagers all over town to gain an advantage over the casinos. Her surprisingly impeccable mind for numbers soon cements her status as Dink's good-luck charm, until his gorgeous-but-frigid wife, Tulip, starts to get jealous. Faced with no other choice but to fire Beth, Dink's luck runs out when she heads to New York to work for a smarmy bookie, a turn of events that lands her squarely on the wrong side of the law.

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20% liked it

2,005 ratings

Critics

19% liked it

47 critics

R, 1 hr. 34 min.

Directed by: Stephen Frears

Release Date: December 7, 2012

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DVD Release Date: March 4, 2013

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Flixster Reviews (136)

  • LWOODS04
    April 15, 2013
    LWOODS04
    Lay The Favorite was just an OK movie for me. I really love Bruce, Vince, and Josh. That is the only real reason I wanted to watch it. I usually let the actors I love lead me to the movies I watch. Unfortunately I wish it would have been in a film with a better scri... read morept and directing. Plus the leading actress, Rebecca Hall, annoyed me to fullest. I am pretty sure it was her voice and her acting and her facial expressions. She just annoyed me all the way pretty much. She made it hard to pay attention to what was going on. All her quirks were just too much for me to look past. Bruce, Josh, and Vince are better than what this film offered. I don't see myself ever watching this again.
  • fb100000145236770
    March 10, 2013
    fb100000145236770
    "Lay the Favourite" is one of those fluff movies that in 5 years, you'll watch pieces of on USA network. It's mildly entertaining, has good stars, but overall just isn't very good. About a girl who comes to vegas to be a cocktail waitress and she gets involved with a bookie, D... read moreink(Bruce Willis). They work together, and she eventually wants more, but he is married to Tulip(Cathrine Zeta Jones), and then from there the movie goes to into like 3 different directions. Starts out decent, but then just spirals downward. The performances aren't very good as Willis and Jones either overact or look like they don't care. Vince Vaughn has a small role, and really I think he should have been in it a lot more and the movie could have been better. OK for a one time watch if nothing else is on and you don't care if the movie is good or not.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    January 12, 2013
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    How far can a long shot take you?

    Good movie! 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. Bruc... read moree 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 It's a nice little movie, that has more potential than it shows on screen.

    Beth, a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, falls in with Dink, a sports gambler who swoons for her as she proves to be something of a gambling prodigy, earning the initial ire of Dink's wife, Tulip.
  • SirPant
    December 10, 2012
    SirPant
    I liked the unpredictability of Lay the Favourite and I also liked the performances. I think people were disappointed that it wasn't over the top like the advertising might have suggested but I quite liked the story. It's bit of an anti-climax but I found it to be entertaining e... read morenough throughout. Rebecca Hall certainly stole the show though and not only for the 'pants dancing' scene. It's nothing special but pleasant all the same.
  • fb1526363679
    December 9, 2012
    fb1526363679
    Come on Bruce, your better than this.
  • moviewaffle
    June 23, 2012
    moviewaffle
    The movie opens with a title card which reads: "As luck would have it, this is based on a true story". It's hard to see where luck comes into play as there's nothing about this bland story which makes it stand out.
    It seems contradictory that in America, the home of capitalism, ... read morebookmaking is illegal. I live in a country where the practice is not only legal but is a major contributor to the economy. The top bookmaker, Paddy Power, ranks alongside Guinness as one of the great Irish success stories and they have branches on practically every main street. For this reason I found it hard to see it as something dangerous and thrilling like it's portrayed here.
    Everything seems to happen too easily for Hall's character, creating little in the way of dramatic conflict. The movie's final third is meant to evoke the sort of paranoia of the finale of "Goodfellas" but we never get any genuine sense of threat. It's all as middle of the road as it gets, the film isn't humorous enough to be a comedy or serious enough for a drama.
    Most of the cast phone in their performances and you can't really blame them as the script is so dull. Hall however is compelling to watch. Her Daisy Dukes clad good-time girl is light years away from the sort of uptight waif roles she's been typecast in. There's also plenty of her on display which I certainly won't complain about.
    There have been many great films about gambling, and movies like "The Gambler" and "California Split" have used the subject for existential explorations. Frears wastes the concept with this flimsy tale that's simply not worth taking a punt on.
  • Hamee
    April 30, 2013
    Hamee
    It is pretty hard to believe that this is based on a true story, but Beth definitely had an exciting life. The cast was great in this and the story was very entertaining.
  • ThomasJayWilliams
    April 16, 2013
    ThomasJayWilliams
    I watched Lay the Favorite a couple of weeks ago and was completely unphased and unmoved by it. As it was the latest film from highly-respected director, Stephen Frears -- whose work I have admired in the past (The Queen, Dangerous Liaisons, High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things) -... read more- I was determined to allow the film to remain in my mind/head while I mulled parts of it over. But ... I have since forgotten nearly everything in/about it! It meant nothing to me as I watched it ... and it means even less to me two weeks later which is unheard of for me. Not a single element of this film has stuck with me ... nothing ... although that might be perhaps because there is nothing here to start with. Perhaps it isn't me. In spite of a cast including Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vince Vaughn, Joshua Jackson, Rebecca Hall, Corbin Bernsen and Laura Prepon (whom I don't even remember half of being in the movie) there is nothing here to take note of or remember. I don't even remember what movie I'm reviewing at the moment.

View All Lay the Favorite Reviews

Critic Reviews

Kyle Smith
December 7, 2012
Kyle Smith, New York Post

Frears has a lot of fun with the bad tempers and high spirits of this crew of adrenaline junkies, and though the story falls a little flat, the script is sprinkled with dry wit. Full Review

Mick LaSalle
December 7, 2012
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

"Lay the Favorite" is a small and not particularly ambitious movie, but it's pleasing and exceptionally well made. Full Review

Betsy Sharkey
December 6, 2012
Betsy Sharkey, Los Angeles Times

What has happened to director Stephen Frears? Full Review

A.O. Scott
December 6, 2012
A.O. Scott, New York Times

Best to say as little as possible, cut one's losses and move on. Full Review

Moira MacDonald
December 6, 2012
Moira MacDonald, Seattle Times

The dots are there, but they don't connect. Full Review

Scott Tobias
December 6, 2012
Scott Tobias, NPR

A listless comedy built around a vivacious protagonist. Full Review

Elizabeth Weitzman
December 6, 2012
Elizabeth Weitzman, New York Daily News

Hall works like mad to create this character, giving her a breathy voice and hair-twisting tics and wide-eyed expressions that, rather than rounding her out, only flatten her. Full Review

James Rocchi
December 6, 2012
James Rocchi, MSN Movies

Incoherent, loud and saddled with a lead character far less smart ... 'Lay the Favorite' simply lays down dead. Full Review

Melissa Anderson
December 4, 2012
Melissa Anderson, Village Voice

A wan comedy about gambling that takes no risks ... Full Review

Keith Uhlich
December 4, 2012
Keith Uhlich, Time Out New York

This is one bugged-out burlesque you can easily close the iron door on. Full Review

Critic ratings and reviews powered by RottenTomatoes.com

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    • Dink: [singing] All I need it the air I breath...
    • Dink: I just don't have enough room in my pockets for all that money.
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