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Coming soon to a movie theater near you: "Lay the Favorite."
No, it's not a porn film, it's the latest movie about the world of gambling.
But unlike most films about gambling that center around either poker or horse racing, this motion picture tackles the oft-neglected gambling niche of sports betting.
Based on the non-fiction book of the same name by Beth Raymer, "Lay the Favorite" premiered last month at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, USA and is expected to make its way to a theater near you in the next few weeks.
Starring in the movie are Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Vince Vaughn, Laura Prepon, Rebecca Hall, Corbin Bernsen and Joshua Jackson.
According to IMDB.com, an entertainment website that covers movies and TV, "Lay the Favorite" is "a dramedy centered on a thirty-something woman who becomes involved with a group of geeky fiftyish men who have found a way to work the sportsbook system in Las Vegas."
The movie's title, "Lay the Favorite," is apparently a double entendre of the sexual variety, as the protagonist of the story--Raymer in real life and Hall in the movie--is a hooker.
The Hollywood Reporter, an entertainment trade publication that reviewed the Sundance Film Festival showing of the movie, opined that it is a "serio-comic true-life tale about a lower-class force of nature who discovers she’s a natural in the gambling trade."
Its review went on, describing the movie as "a loud guest at a party who’s amusing for a while, until you just have to escape to the next room. Starring the ever-classy Rebecca Hall in the unlikely role of a big-mouthed private dancer who aspires to become a Vegas cocktail waitress but instead becomes a valued aide to a pro gambler, this (film) just isn’t that funny and the enterprise never finds an exact tone...
"Anyone who has seen Hall before will do a double-take upon first laying eyes on her here as Beth Raymer, a low-rent Florida floozy in the tiniest of jean shorts whose Vegas dreams remain elusive until she encounters Dink (Bruce Willis). A sports gambler with a small, smart-talking staff, Dink takes Beth on to make bets, run errands and work the phones and before long realizes she’s a good-luck charm with a genuine gift for numbers....
"Dink’s glamour-puss wife, the wonderfully named Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones), returns to town, immediately picks up the strong vibes between Beth and her husband and behaves like a queen bitch until Dink is obliged to fire the uncomprehending Beth...
"In the meantime, the impulsive Beth picks up a nice fellow in a casino (Joshua Jackson) and moves with him to New York, where she is soon taken under wing by a friendly rival of Dink’s, the flamboyant Rosie (Vince Vaughn), who induces the ever-impressionable Beth to become involved in his illegal bookmaking schemes. This eventually involves her going to Curacao to oversee operations there, even as she becomes increasingly aware of how dangerously exposed she and those closest to her have become."
As noted, movies about sports betting are few and far between, presumably because the audience for that subject is limited.
Among the films that have dealt with the topic are "The Gambler," with James Caan as a sports bettor who attempts to fix basketball games; "Big Shot," about the point-shaving scandal at Arizona State University; and "Bookies," about college students who go from bettors to bookmakers and get in over their heads.
By Tom Somach
Gambling911.com Staff Writer
