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. Lay the Favorite is probably one of the few good movies that Bruce Willis has done in the last few years plus it was actually entertaining and funny unlike some of his other stupid movies and the acting was actually pretty good and Rebecca Hall looked really beautiful in this movie. Overall please give it a fair share of chance it's not bad.

What a fun flick! In Lay the Favorite, Rebecca Hall shows off her acting chops by playing a character she never usually plays. From England, Rebecca usually plays a strong, self-sufficient woman, and in this comedy, she plays a gum-chewing, low-class bimbo from Florida who falls for a married gambler. She's never been prettier, and in my opinion, she's never been more likable.With her curls bouncing as much as her personality, Rebecca finds herself lap-dancing in Las Vegas with dreams no higher than becoming a cocktail waitress. She meets for master gambler Bruce Willis and goes to work for him in his bookie joint. While she develops feelings for him, he's merely enamored with her work talents-after all, he is married to the beautiful and jealous Catherine Zeta-Jones!Depending on how well you know your date-and whether or not he's married-this would be an adorable film to rent for a cute date night. It's funny, sassy, interesting, and Rebecca does a great job. I liked her so much in Lay the Favorite that I didn't realize it was the same actress I had seen in other, completely different roles! She and Bruce have a darling rapport together, and you'll find yourself rooting for them despite your better judgment.

Beth (Rebecca Hall) is stripping in private homes to make ends meet. On the advise of motel neighbor Holly (Laura Prepon), she goes to work for bookie Dink (Bruce Willis) and finds that she's actually quite good at it. She's good with numbers. People like dealing with her on the phone. And Dink likes her a lot. The problem is Dink's wife Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones) doesn't want him to like her so much. When Dink starts to lose money, things blow up.When you consider the talents in front of and behind the camera, it's a wonder how things could go so wrong. Award winning director Stephen Frears is the biggest culprit. The script may need better jokes, but it's mainly Frears who couldn't extract any laughs from this. In the end, this is mostly his responsibility.Rebecca Hall is doing a squeaky-voice fast-talking bobble head doll. It's completely fake, and leaves my head shaking. It doesn't fit her at all. If her mannerisms are meant to be funny, it got no laughs from me. Everybody else is doing a competent if not very impressive work. Catherine Zeta-Jones and Bruce Willis could have been an explosive couple but they're not. The only interesting acting comes from Vince Vaughn who plays a wildman bookie.Not much goes right in this movie. It is absolutely not funny. It is watchable, but afterward I wonder why I watched it.

So, why pick up a movie called "The Gambler" in Japanese. "Play the Favorite" actually is a line in the movie, a sort of key to the story. Answer: I like movies about games, I like "game theory" and hope for something like A Beautiful Mind. Hearts in Atlanta, 21, Moneyball. In fact, it was Joshua Jackson that pulled me. I went through "Fringe" with him, wanted to see him in something else. I actually didn't realize how high level the cast was! It kind of starts off like "Showgirls." Naive girl rolls into town, um, doesn't get a gig as cocktail waitress so, we aren't in the same story, and it isn't going to be the same story.Why did I watch it again and again? When her father laughed because Beth wants to leave Tallahasse for Los Vegas, and that scene worked for me. I liked her dog. I was already with Rebecca Hall as Beth much more deeply than I ever could with Vicky in "Vicky Cristina Barcelona". But on the other hand, and to be fair, I did not watch that movie three times in a row, hunting for it. What? The thing that makes it ring true, that pulls me in. I've driven up to a place, looked at it, decided it would do, and said, "I'll take it." Hit the pavement looking for a job.Enter Dink and face it, I love Bruce, I've loved him a long time, since "Moonlighting" and you've seen these kid actors, Harrison Ford, Michael Keaton, John Travolta, bursting with sex-appeal and self-confidence, and you've seen them getting older, and so here is Bruce being Dink, and I'm already with Beth, so there is an interview and she tells him everything, he tells her everything, he forgives her for being a kid, and he hires her, she is stoked and the movie kept me until the end. Catherine Zeta-Jones does a great job, Vince Vaughn makes his small but central part work. It's a sort of sad note that Joshua's Jeremy was just a bit too bland, but the core story of the two central people becoming real friends, overcoming the possible delusions of sex and infidelity worked. The chemistry of Bruce with Rebecca was spot on. I believed it and felt like that is a love that can hold the world together and a very good role for Rebecca.After I watched this movie again and again, I also understood more about the world, the games, and the characters. It was taken from Beth's true story. I should add that Catherine Zeta-Jones played her role to perfection, if you understand that the story is a true story of some real people, not a titillating fantasy.