Good: Lay the Favorite has a stellar cast that includes Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vince Caughn, Joshua Jackson, Lara Prepon, and Joel Murray.
Bad: It currently sits at 26% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Good: It’s directed by Stephen Frears, who also directed The Queen, High Fidelity, Dirty Pretty Things, and Prick Up Your Ears.
Bad: Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian called it “garbled and unsatisfying.” Angie Errigo of Empire said its “mildly amusing at best.” William Goss of Film.com calls it the “most lifeless film in Frears’ [filmography].”
Good: You get to see Laura Prepon’s breasts.
So, maybe reel in your expectations for Lay the Favorite, which follows a high-stakes Vegas gambler (Willis) who hires a stripper (Hall) as his good luck charm as he shows her the ropes of the gambling life.
The movie releases wide on December 7, 2012 – so perhaps reviews will come out a bit more favorably as the weeks progress. If not, well… you still get to see Laura Prepon’s breasts.
Completely agree with the long-term strategy point. Now that J.J. has left the building and I hope all his...
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.