5.4 | / 10 |
Users | 2.5 | |
Reviewer | 3.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
An adventurous young woman gets involved with a group of geeky older men who have found a way to work the sportsbook system in Las Vegas to their advantage.
Starring: Bruce Willis, Rebecca Hall, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Joshua Jackson, Laura PreponComedy | 100% |
Drama | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.85:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English SDH, Spanish
25GB Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (C untested)
Movie | 2.5 | |
Video | 4.5 | |
Audio | 3.5 | |
Extras | 1.0 | |
Overall | 3.0 |
Lay the Favorite is based on an autobiography of the same title by journalist Beth Raymer that has been published with several different subtitles, including "A Memoir of Gambling" and "A Story of Gamblers". An intertitle at the beginning of the film states that "As luck would have it, the following story is true." The main character, played by Rebecca Hall, is named "Beth Raymer". Despite the usual legal disclaimer at the end of the credits about incidents and dialogue being fictionalized for dramatic purposes, we're meant to accept the story as fact. That might be easier to do if the film used unknown faces instead of being stuffed with familiar actors, including several bona fide movie stars in the persons of Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Vince Vaughn. The director, Stephen Frears, has plenty of experience working with famous names in films that include Dangerous Liaisons, The Grifters and The Queen, but here the material wilts under the wattage of A-listers trying to "stretch" while taking a break from the industry grind in a quirky independent project.
Lay the Favorite was shot by Michael McDonough, the talented cinematographer of such digital works as Winter's Bone and Albert Nobbs. According to IMDb, the film was shot with the Sony CineAlta F35, which is consistent with the final product after post-production on a digital intermediate. Anchor Bay's 1080p, AVC-encoded Blu-ray offers a clean, sharp, colorful image without noise or artifacts, which does a nice job of capturing the daily life of Vegas without overemphasizing the glitz and glamor of which, at least as told in the film, Beth Raymer saw very little. The film's palette becomes somewhat darker and more monochromatic for the New York scenes, but otherwise the cinematography is not overtly stylized. The photography is naturalistic, and that's what the Blu-ray delivers.
The best parts of Lay the Favorite's DTS-HD MA 5.1 soundtrack are those conveying a cacophony of voices shouting over each other, usually in Dink, Inc.'s offices. The mix effectively separates the individual voices so that they criss-cross, without dissolving into aural mush. Otherwise, the sound mix is functional and unremarkable, with little for the surrounds to do except provide a general sense of ambiance and add depth to the serviceable score by James Seymour Brett (Planet 51).
Since Lay the Favorite was acquired for distribution by the Weinstein Company, it has been released by Anchor Bay in TWC's usual format, i.e., mastered with BD-Java but with the omission of bookmarking capabilities. Someday they'll learn.
Lay the Favorite is a pleasant diversion, but it doesn't add up to much. Its cast and director are good enough to make the experience mildly entertaining, but it evaporates as soon as the credits roll. Unless you're a Bruce Willis completist or have a crush on Rebecca Hall, a rental is all I'd suggest.
2013
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