When you quit your job as a private dancer to move to Vegas and become a cocktail waitress it's hard to justify the logic ... or the move up. But that is the path that Beth Raymer has chosen for herself. With her dog by her side she sets out to the Sin City in hopes of making it big. But her dreams take a detour when she is introduced to Dink, a sports gambler who takes a chance on the small town princess by giving her a job with his company. Almost immediately a whirlwind of jealousy and deceit take Beth on an unexpected journey, ultimately pitting her face-to-face with the FBI.
Let me be the first to tell you that Lay the Favorite is not an intense Las Vegas thriller. It also doesn't merit the long list of high profile talent of which it features. Nevertheless, it is a seemingly innocent film that does little to unimpressed during its 100 minute runtime. Yes, that was a semi backhanded compliment.
Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall and Catherine Zeta-Jones share the screen decently during their scenes, but none knocked me out the park as each seemed to be carelessly going through the motions in order to collect a paycheck. The dialogue itself featured little creativity or wit, something that I would expect in a film dealing with the world of sports gambling in Vegas.
I honestly never felt for any of the characters. Their fate was of no judgement to me, and when the final scene was revealed I was more excited that the story had been resolved than the actual outcome. Lay the Favorite wasn't horrible per-se, but it didn't do much to win me over either.
