TrueJoshNight Truly Dreadful Film

HeadlinesExotic Boring

Afouotos Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Janis One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

blrnani I think the first time I saw this film I was so shocked by Catherine Zeta-Jones (I was as smitten by my first glimpse of the most beautiful woman in the world, in Zorro, as Michael Douglas, but he had the edge) that I failed to appreciate its qualities. Last night I watched it again and found it a delightful comedy, with some terrific acting, notably from former Roedean head girl and stage actress Rebecca Hall as a ditsy American blonde looking for a better life and Catherine as a sharp manipulator defending her territory. Beth is never as dumb as she seems (she never told her daddy how she was earning the money to get her through college), as it's mainly charming naivete that takes her bouncing from situation to situation, always reacting and never in control. The audience think they know where this is going when she decides to give up her small town life and head for the glitter of the Vegas strip. But it turns out she is actually rather good with letters and numbers, as well as possessing a rare and very precious quality - she can be trusted. Bruce Willis is volatile, but kindly to those he thinks deserve it (and even some who don't) and he thinks beth deserves it. His jealous wife Catherine is the only one who doesn't trust her and just as everything seems to be going well she delivers her ultimatum to her devoted hubby. But Beth bounces back, meeting a genuinely nice honest guy who falls in love with her and wants to take her back to NY with him. Of course life isn't that neat and tidy, but she ends up there eventually and falls in with Vince Vaughn, a high roller who talks big but doesn't back it up with the required professionalism. But Beth's qualities overcome that defect until a tricksy client threatens to denounce them, including her boyfriend, who only helped out of love for her, to the Feds. At that point, Beth has to call in the goodwill credits she has accumulated, and even Catherine rallies round to help her. With that support, Beth suddenly discovers her own inner strength and force of character and takes control of the situation, and we know she's going to be okay from now on. It's a true story that gives a warm glow, as well as providing a lot of laughs along the way. The only reason I don't rate this film higher is because there is a lot of information on betting that flies completely over my head (since I learned as a teen that it's a mugs game), so although the audience knows enough to know they've got a lot of money riding on multiple events across multiple fields (the Bruce Willis character is smart enough to keep out of the stock market, because he knows it's rigged!), it's hard to get involved in the clips of those events, only their reactions to them. Nevertheless, it's a film I recommend for a good laugh, as long as you leave all preconcieved notions of what you expect from Rebecca, Catherine and Bruce at the door.

Ed-Shullivan 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.

Danielle If you can get through the excruciating first half of this movie, it's fairly entertaining. The first 45 minutes are confusing and dull as hell, and I almost turned it off (watching on DVD) because I just didn't care about the people or the events unfolding. How can you set a movie in Vegas, and have this amazing cast, and end up with such a mediocre result? It's based on a memoir that, by all accounts, is funny and extremely entertaining, but something clearly has been lost during the translation to the screen. The second half is better - it comes together, the characters become a bit more multi-dimensional, and there finally seems to be some point. But overall, this movie is a wasted opportunity and it's greatest value may be for insomniacs.

witster18 Contender for worst film of 2012 anyways.Wanderlust is no longer the worst film from 2012. At least for me."Lay the Favorite" is awful. I don't even know what this film was about.Well, I take that back. It's about a bunch of very uninteresting characters. Bruce Willis plays a sports gambler, who appropriately enough owns "dink Inc", and Rebecca Hall plays an ex-stripper turned sports-line expert who becomes his assistant. And If all that doesn't get you excited - wait until nothing else happens.Oh my this was bad. Rebecca Hall is sometimes charming, but more often annoying. It's not entirely her fault though. Everything about her character is a contradiction, and when all else fails the director gives us some meaningless, unnecessary nudity in a last ditch effort to keep us from turning it off(this is around the 28minutes-in mark mind you). I don't mind nudity at all, but when it feels so forced to add some spice to an otherwise boring film, well then, I'd just as soon pop-in an 80's boob comedy.It has some of the same problems as Wanderlust actually. We just don't care about these characters one iota, and the films have no clue where they want to go. And when all else fails - everyone take your clothes off.Bruce Willis is really cementing his new "C" movie star-status with this one. He was well on his way already, but this sucker shot Bruce into Slater/Liota/Lundgren/Van Damme/Shaquille Oneal territory. Talk about "Dying Hard".Stephen Frears? Reeeeeaaaaallly? 30/100