Mark Kermode 

Lay the Favorite – review

Stephen Frears's hustling comedy is oddly forgettable despite good central performances, writes Mark Kermode
  
  

lay the favourite
Rebecca Hall and Bruce Willis in the 'oddly forgettable' Lay the Favourite. Photograph: PR

With The Grifters nothing but a memory, Stephen Frears's latest hustling tale is an oddly lacklustre and forgettable affair. Rebecca Hall is typically watchable as Beth Raymer, a wannabe-cocktail-waitress with a head for figures who is smitten by Bruce Willis's avuncular bookie, to the annoyance of his facelifted wife, played with relish by Catherine Zeta-Jones. Meanwhile Vince Vaughn coasts as an obnoxious loudmouth with bad dress sense. Apparently it's a true story, although the increasingly frenzied plotting rings rather false – albeit with a few tight-lipped laughs along the way.

 

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