Lay the Favorite (2012)

Ex-private dancer Beth aspires to be a Las Vegas cocktail waitress, when she falls in with Dink, a sports gambler. Sparks fly as she proves to be something of a gambling prodigy--much to the ire of Dink's wife, Tulip.

Director:

Stephen Frears

Writers:

D.V. DeVincentis (screenplay), Beth Raymer (memoir)

Stars:

Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis, Vince Vaughn

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Rebecca Hall	...	Beth
Joel Murray	...	Darren
Hugo Armstrong	...	Customer
Corbin Bernsen	...	Jerry
Earl Maddox	...	Manager
Rio Hackford	...	Magic
Jo Newman	...	Darcy
Laura Prepon	...	Holly
Bruce Willis	...	Dink Heimowitz
Frank Grillo	...	Frankie
Wayne Pére	...	Scott (as Wayne Péré)
Adam Kozlowski	...	Rio Gambler 1
Al Brown	...	Old Gambler
Thom Sesma	...	Young Guy
Rusty Meyers	...	Rio Gambler 2

Storyline

Beth, who lap dances to make ends meet, leaves Florida for Las Vegas hoping to be a cocktail waitress. She meets two women who introduce her to Dink, a gambler with a system. He hires her - she's good with numbers - and she promptly falls for him, even though he's married to a woman who seems to do nothing but spend his money. Beth tries to entice Dink whose wife, Tulip, tells him to choose; he does and promptly goes on a losing streak. The repercussions of his choice play out with a heavy gambler who has a parole officer, a cheesy bookmaker in Curaçao, Beth's desire to keep a friend out of prison, and help from an unlikely source.

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Plot Keywords:

panties | white panties | gambler | waitress | losing streak | 

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Taglines:

How far can a losing shot take you?

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Genres:

Comedy | Drama | Romance

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language throughout, some sexual content, brief drug use, and nudity

Details

Official Sites:

Official site [Japan]

Country:

USA UK France

Language:

English Spanish

Release Date:

22 June 2012 (UK)

Also Known As:

Lady Vegas

Filming Locations:

New York City, New York, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$26,350,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$20,998, 9 December 2012

Gross USA:

$20,998

Company Credits

Production Co:

Emmett/Furla/Oasis Films (EFO Films), Wild Bunch, Random House Films

Technical Specs

Runtime:

94 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Dink wears a t-shirt for the Little Brown Jug, a harness race for standardbreds held each year at the Delaware County Fair in Delaware, Ohio. Ohio State athletics are featured prominently several times, and Beth references a period of time she spent in Ohio.

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Goofs

During the televised basketball game in the closing minutes of the film, the storyline is that the game is down to no time left on the clock, and the NJ player, Reedmore, has the chance to make 2 foul shots to beat LA. When the baseline camera focuses on the player's face, though, the time clock over the hoop at the other end of the court is visible, and the clock plainly reads 6:40 left in the game.

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Quotes

Customer: You should be scared. It's a healthy reaction to a big ass gun like that.

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Connections

Referenced in Projector: Philomena (2013)

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Soundtracks

The Air That I Breathe
Written by Albert Hammond & Mike Hazlewood
Performed by The Hollies
Licensed courtesy of EMI Records Ltd
Published by Imagem Music

User Reviews

unbelievably bad...

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.