a good group, a fun film, a great actress
9/10
Author: john mayfield from jusboutded/salon/blog
1 December 2013
*** This review may contain spoilers ***

If you'd like to view a brief and startling master class in brilliant acting, watch Rebecca Hall in this and then go and see her in "The Appearance". It takes a while, at least it took me, a while to realize that this is truly the same remarkable actress lurking somewhere underneath two such very disparate characters.

RH is apparently one of this current generation of Brits who find it incredibly easy to portray utterly convincing Americans. Witness the cast of True Blood, Walking Dead, and Vikings, fer yer good examples. I wonder what will become of her career... She is certainly in demand enough, from Woody Allen to Iron Man, but the roles are not true kick ass starmakers. Her danger is that she may remain appreciated but not adored, she is certainly not yet a household name although she is talented enough to be.

Like a Meryl Streep waiting for the career making door opener of Sophies Choice she stands the danger of becoming successful without stardom, and parking her car forever in the second rows of small lots where the dreadful appellation of "beloved character actor" denies all any further expansion or exit. We will see what opportunities to supernova come her way. This film is a game, friendly and likable, supposedly true fable of modern Vegas, based on the central character's book, although true is always a flexible description in these matters.

I don't recall any smoking or drinking or sex in the movie and although that is a pleasant omission to witness, this is supposed to be real life Nevada after all. Willis and Zeta-Jones make credible appearances as flawed but still admirable human beings, and the guy from Fringe shows up as a smiling and insignificant yet desirable male. Its nice to see big stars in small films, and I would love to know the inside story of how they were all somehow wooed into this one. Probably Willis first, then the rest followed.

Its Hall who gives the movie any weight and memorability however, I have watched it twice now just to see her upside down close up face as she stands on her head for the affable psychopath who wants to time her, and the so great way she says "lay" on the phone when BW teaches her how to call in a bet. See? Now you have to see it too, donchya? Donchya now huh?

Rings True
8/10
Author: Valerie Wilkinson from Japan
3 November 2013
*** This review may contain spoilers ***

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.

A 100% fun movie that is like a comedy version of Two For The Money.
The kind of movie you can watch over and over. I say A-
8/10
Author: Tony Heck from United States
28 February 2013
"When you put your money down you can not pick and choose what bets count, cause all of your bets are yours. All of them, win or lose." Beth (Hall) is a small town girl who's dream is to be a cocktail waitress in Las Vegas. After moving there she gets a job in sports betting with Dink (Willis). When she turns out to be a genius at it everyone is impressed, especially the temperamental Dink who thinks he has the perfect assistant. There are some movies that are important and should be seen to change things. There are others thatare huge effects movies that are fun to watch but have no real substance.

Then there are movies like this, extremely entertaining and fun from beginning to end. The cast is great and the plot is good. The best way to describe the movie is more of a comedy version of Two For The Money. Overall, there really is nothing else to say other then this movie is just 100% fun from beginning to end. I recommend this as a movie you can just put in and not think about. A movie you can watch over and over. I surprisingly give it an A-.

Engaging biography - not a story, though
7/10
Author: Neil Welch from United Kingdom
29 June 2012
*** This review may contain spoilers ***

Beth (Rebecca Hall), having drifted into private dancing (home visits leading to small scale prostitution) decides to leave small-town Florida and head for Las Vegas, where a more fulfilling life as a cocktail waitress beckons. Alas, cocktail waitressing in Vegas is a difficult nut to crack, and beth ends up working for Dink (Bruce Wilis) who makes his living from his sports gambling company. What follows is the story of Beth's progress, and her involvement with Dink, his wife Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones), journalist Jeremy (Joshua Jackson),complètement superflu !! bookmaker Rosie (Vince Vaughan) and gambler Dave (John Carroll Lynch).

The need to classify films is sometimes a problem, and this is the case here. The closing titles tell us that Beth married Jeremy, took a degree and became a writer: the film is based on her personal memoir and, like real life, is episodic and unstructured. So, while it is often amusing, it is not a comedy, while it is sometimes dramatic it is not a drama and, in fact, it isn't really a story at all, it is simply a recollection of a period in her life.My main criticism is that as someone who is not a sports fan and doesn't bet, big chunks of this movie were as opaque to me as a movie with big chunks set on the floor of a stock exchange would have been.

I understand that this is inevitable, but it was something of a problem. And this is a shame, because the film otherwise kept me occupied in a very agreeable manner. Rebecca Hall is a delight. Having played serious characters previously, with a tendency towards the plain, Beth is a sunny, engaging, leggy, sexy pleasure, but all the characters are quite nice people (which, frankly, I find unlikely, but that didn't matter: I enjoyed the film anyway. And it was a pleasure to see Vince Vaughan playing a different character.

Fun, entertaining, charming movie, but not for the heady.
7/10
Author: kmmillerjd from CT USA
20 November 2013
Based on Beth Raymer's "Lay the Favorite: A Memoir of Gambling," this is a fun and entertaining movie.

A sleeper at the box office for sure, but for those seeking 90 minutes to unwind and forget about reality for a while, this film takes its viewers on a fun, if not entirely realistic, ride through the lives of professional gamblers. Other reviewers have criticized this movie for being simple, but that's what gives the movie its charm. (The book is probably more detailed and was well reviewed by the Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and the New York Times Book Review). Don't compare this movie to Rounders (Matt Damon & Edward Norton) or 21 (Kevin Spacey). It's not a drama with complicated plot lines, but a lighthearted, romantic comedy with a fun cast that's easy to watch.