Lay the Favorite

[Vince P]

Not 117% horse related but a new movie (Non-fiction) comes out on the 7th about a broad, bookmaking, Vegas and all that good stuff.

Vince read the book about a year ago - one of those books you just can't put down - very interesting and a fun read. I fell in love with the author, Beth Raymer - one of the main characters in the movie played by Rebecca Hall. The movie also stars Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

One of several movie reviews: http://www.movieinsider.com/m6651/lay-t ... ke-the-dog.

Book review: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/06 ... r-20100606

I’ll b be there on the 7th and I'm 177% sure at least one other forumite - a huge Brooklyn fan - will be there that day too:-)

Go see it or read the book first and then see it - I'm sure you'll love both. Tell them Vince sent you if they axe. And do buy the free refill large bucket of popcorn.

Vince P

[Theiman]

Not 117% horse related but a new movie (Non-fiction) comes out on the 7th about a broad, bookmaking, Vegas and all that good stuff.

Vince read the book about a year ago - one of those books you just can't put down - very interesting and a fun read. I fell in love with the author, Beth Raymer - one of the main characters in the movie played by Rebecca Hall. The movie also stars Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

One of several movie reviews: http://www.movieinsider.com/m6651/lay-t ... ke-the-dog.

Book review: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/jun/06 ... r-20100606

I’ll b be there on the 7th and I'm 177% sure at least one other forumite - a huge Brooklyn fan - will be there that day too:-)

Go see it or read the book first and then see it - I'm sure you'll love both. Tell them Vince sent you if they axe. And do buy the free refill large bucket of popcorn.

Vince P

Movie comes out on Pearl Harbor Day so I expect it to be a bomb...............well maybe a little bomb.

I will be there on opening day/night. If I can, I will fly to Brooklyn USA and have dinner at Nathans in Coney Island, if its still there then off to the Brooklyn Mafia Theater. If not I will watch it in my local OC Bijou.

DM forum member theiman.......oh yeah thats me, gets a small mention, twice, in the book, but never made to the Big Screen. Looks like I will have to wait for my Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bruce Willis plays my friend, Dink, who is one of the main characters in the movie.
Catherine Zeta Jones plays his wife.

[Handsomepolack]

Last time i heard the word lay was in a court room, she the undercover cop said i propositioned her , i responded your delusional officer, your not exactly a pin-up model not guilty

[MikeFromGardena]

The book is better than the movie.

[Vince P]

The book is better than the movie.

You may be right. Book was fantastic.

Just a reminder, this movie starts tomorrow, or today if youz live in Brooklyn like me.

http://trailers.apple.com/trailers/inde ... efavorite/

May not win 17 Academy Awards, but should be a fun movie with a couple of decent chicks in it.

Vince P

[Vince P]

Nice positive review from my local paper (SF Chron). At least the Little Man is applauding.

http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/La ... 097451.php

Lay the Favorite

Comedy-drama. Starring Rebecca Hall, Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta-Jones. Directed by Stephen Frears. (R. 94 minutes.)

"Lay the Favorite" is a small and not particularly ambitious movie, but it's pleasing and exceptionally well made. It was directed by Stephen Frears, and while it's not up there with his best - "Dangerous Liaisons," "The Queen," "High Fidelity," "Cheri" - "Lay the Favorite" lavishes the same attention on the personal, on relationships, and, like most Frears films, it puts a woman at the center of the story.

Only a British director would have considered casting Rebecca Hall in this lead role. You might know Hall from Woody Allen's "Vicky Cristina Barcelona," as Scarlett Johansson's proper, scholarly best friend. Here her essence is transformed, as Beth, an impulsive, gushing, mercurial young woman, who starts off the movie as a private dancer and, when that gets scary, decides to become a tail waitress in Las Vegas.

One of the appealing things about "Lay the Favorite" is the way it takes you into a specific world, with its own modes and manners. Based on a memoir by Beth Raymer, "Lay the Favorite" presents Vegas as a big town with a small town underneath it, an infrastructure built around certain key people and codes of ethics. Among those people is Dink, a successful professional gambler, played by Bruce Willis.

When Beth goes to work for Dink, she learns all about odds and point spreads. She fields and places phone calls, does money drops and spends much of the day sitting in front of screens, flashing the latest line on every sporting event and horse race throughout the world. In the course of one day, Dink might make $100,000, and on another he might lose it. A lot rides on luck, and everyone is on the lookout for who or what is lucky. It's a high-adrenaline, high-stress way to go through life.

Though the movie purports to tell Raymer's true story, it's not above making our heroine look silly and occasionally morally vacuous. In record time, she falls in love with Dink and cares nothing about the fact that he has a wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones). He cares - a lot - but here is this pretty young woman walking around half naked, who thinks he's great, when he knows he's not. And she's lucky, too. No wonder he feels the pull in her direction.

"Lay the Favorite" is a very good movie for Willis, the best in a while. It's a role that won't win him any honors, and it won't make him any richer, but he does get the chance to break out and play something besides his own legend. Here he looks the way he does in person - smaller, not like an action hero - and he plays a human being, not a wall of mildly irritated granite. Dink is vulnerable, as well he should be; he's a gambler. He's sensitive. He's someone who actually cares about people and doesn't always know what to do.

Perhaps the loveliest thing in the movie is watching Willis, as Dink, work out his feelings for Beth in his mind. Little is stated, but it's all there: his recognition of her limitations and of his own mental exhaustion; his understanding of the gulf between who she thinks he is and who he really is. In slow motion, he transitions in his own head from seeing her as a potential lover to seeing her as an adopted daughter.

"Lay the Favorite" moves quickly, shifts locations, gets its heroine into and out of trouble, and stays fun throughout - Vince Vaughn has a colorful turn as a maniacal bookie, perpetually wired and as shady as a veranda. But at times, it's also wise, putting truths in the mouths of even the minor characters. It's a movie about coming into one's adulthood, and sometimes on that journey it's the people you dislike - sometimes especially those people - that help you get there.

[Andyc]

Movie comes out on Pearl Harbor Day so I expect it to be a bomb...............well maybe a little bomb.

I will be there on opening day/night. If I can, I will fly to Brooklyn USA and have dinner at Nathans in Coney Island, if its still there then off to the Brooklyn Mafia Theater. If not I will watch it in my local OC Bijou.

DM forum member theiman.......oh yeah thats me, gets a small mention, twice, in the book, but never made to the Big Screen. Looks like I will have to wait for my Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bruce Willis plays my friend, Dink, who is one of the main characters in the movie.
Catherine Zeta Jones plays his wife.

Was the book/movie really based on Dinky?

[Claimboxx]

http://www.metacritic.com/movie/lay-the-favorite

[Theiman]

Movie comes out on Pearl Harbor Day so I expect it to be a bomb...............well maybe a little bomb.

I will be there on opening day/night. If I can, I will fly to Brooklyn USA and have dinner at Nathans in Coney Island, if its still there then off to the Brooklyn Mafia Theater. If not I will watch it in my local OC Bijou.

DM forum member theiman.......oh yeah thats me, gets a small mention, twice, in the book, but never made to the Big Screen. Looks like I will have to wait for my Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Bruce Willis plays my friend, Dink, who is one of the main characters in the movie.
Catherine Zeta Jones plays his wife.

Was the book/movie really based on Dinky?

The main character is the auther of the book, Beth Raymer. Beths character was in all chapters of the book, Dink was in most chapters. Beth worked for Dink in Vegas and learned all about gambling. Dink was a partial consultant on the movie and all of the T-shirts that Bruce Willis wore in the movie were Dinks. The sports ticker that Bruce Willis carried was also Dinks. Katherine Zeta Jones plays Dinks wife, Gayle. Gayle used to be married to former jock Don Pierce and she was a mutual clerk years ago on the So Cal circuit. I doubt this movie lasts more than 2 weeks in the theaters, although I hope I am wrong.
The movie debuted a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival and didnt get good reviews and thus had problems getting distribution. It opened in Europe in the summer.

[Vince P]

Was the book/movie really based on Dinky?

The main character is the auther of the book, Beth Raymer. Beths character was in all chapters of the book, Dink was in most chapters. Beth worked for Dink in Vegas and learned all about gambling. Dink was a partial consultant on the movie and all of the T-shirts that Bruce Willis wore in the movie were Dinks. The sports ticker that Bruce Willis carried was also Dinks. Katherine Zeta Jones plays Dinks wife, Gayle. Gayle used to be married to former jock Don Pierce and she was a mutual clerk years ago on the So Cal circuit. I doubt this movie lasts more than 2 weeks in the theaters, although I hope I am wrong.
The movie debuted a year ago at the Sundance Film Festival and didnt get good reviews and thus had problems getting distribution. It opened in Europe in the summer.

Agree - the main focus in the book was Beth and her relationships, job, etc.

I'm thinking the movie will focus more on Dinky, though hopefully Beth's character is a major part.

It's funny, I could not find Lay the Favorite playing anywhere locally in the Bay Area. It was only playing at two theatres and both were like 77 miles from me in artsy theatres. Perhaps it will come out in more mainstream theatres next week depending on what it does this weekend.

So I went and saw 3.14 instead down the street from me bookmaking office.

If you see 3.14 - you MUST SEE it in 3D - that was the great part of it. Overall, I give it a 7/10 though I realize many more people will give it a 10.

Vince P