There are usually two reasons why big-name directors like Academy Award Nominee Stephen Frears (‘THE QUEEN’, ‘GRIFTERS’ etc) return to Sundance Film Festival with new work after some years absence, a) to garner more press coverage, or b) despite the star wattage of their product they still haven’t managed to sell the movie. His ‘LAY THE FAVORITE’ was evidently based on a true story of Beth an ex-stripper who moved to Las Vegas with the lofty ambition of being a Cocktail Waitress but instead fell in with Dink a professional gambler who gave her a job running numbers instead. The gambler had a hard-bitten wife called Tulip who had Beth fired when she could see Beth trying to steal Dink (inexplicable when you see the movie), but later when Beth is working for a NY Bookie and gets in trouble, its Tulip that pushes Dink to come to her rescue.
Like the last two Frears movies (‘Tamara Drew’ & ‘Cheri’) this was really lame and very flat. Rebecca Hall played bubbly Beth to the hilt but after a time what I had initially thought was a wonderful portrayal, really started to irritate me. Bruce Willis was an uninspiring Dink and had zero chemistry with either Ms Hall or my beta noir (a really skinny) Catherine Zeta Jones playing Tulip. Without a doubt, Mr Frears was there to get a Distribution Deal on this one which, now I have sat through it, I know will be no easy task, and its not surprising to me that this has not yet shown up in the slew of daily announcements of movies that have been ‘picked up’ here.
This is reprinted from my SUNDANCE 2012 BLOG as the movie was picked up by The Weinstein Company who opened it in NY last week to reviews far more scathing than mine, and to empty theaters. Dont hold your breath waiting for it to come to a Multiplex near you in the near (or far) future. The Mister Weinsteins could have have got so much more for the $2 million they laid out on this very definite unfavorite!
