Lay the Favorite
Lay the Favorite Image
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Metascore
38 out of 100

Generally unfavorable reviews - based on 17 Critics What's this?

User Score
4.5 out of 10

Mixed or average reviews- based on 11 Ratings

Your Score
0 out of 10
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Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 3 out of 17
  2. Mixed: 9 out of 17
  3. Negative: 5 out of 17
  1. San Francisco Chronicle
    Reviewed by: Mick LaSalle
    Dec 6, 2012
    75
    A small and not particularly ambitious movie, but it's pleasing and exceptionally well made. It was directed by Stephen Frears, and while it's not up there with his best - "Dangerous Liaisons," "The Queen," "High Fidelity," "Cheri" - Lay the Favorite lavishes the same attention on the personal, on relationships, and, like most Frears films, it puts a woman at the center of the story.
  2. Total Film
    Reviewed by: Kate Stables
    Dec 2, 2012
    60
    A classy cast and Frears' light touch can't help this innocent abroad dramedy into the winner's enclosure. More jeopardy, less laboured larking, and it could've romped home.
  3. The A.V. Club
    Reviewed by: Nathan Rabin
    Dec 5, 2012
    58
    At best, Lay The Favorite registers as cartoon sociology, but the film's featherweight charms dissipate whenever it moves away from the world of gambling and devotes time to go-nowhere subplots involving Hall's bland romance with Jackson, or Willis' troubled but fundamentally healthy marriage to Zeta-Jones.
  4. The New York Times
    Reviewed by: A.O. Scott
    Dec 6, 2012
    30
    The movie is a bust, and, as usual in these situations, it is easier to say how than why, and best to say as little as possible, cut one's losses and move on.

See all 17 Critic Reviews

User Reviews

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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 2 out of 3
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 3
  3. Negative: 1 out of 3
  1. Thegodfatherson
    6
    Lay The Favorite is not a great movie but certainly deserves 6 stars because of the sweet hint of spicy romance which you don't see in Bruce Willis Movies.… Expand
  2. NavQ
    6
    I only love watching these types of film because after reading the mostly negative reviews I can write my own that say's the opposite. This has, at the time of writing, got 4.6 which would tell me that a film is sub standard. I see a cast like this and wonder why. Well this is another case of getting it wrong. This is based on Beth Raymer's memoir. An enjoyable story about a young woman who is looking for a better life and starts working for a professional gambler, Dink. He quickly learns she has a head for numbers and the story begins in earnest. Rebecca Hall is a gifted actor and managed the role with ease. The whole cast were great but nobody had to do anything that caught our attention and that is perhaps the reason this film hasn't done well. Bruce Willis is just Bruce Willis with a different name. Vince Vaughn is the same. Everyone is good but people wanted more I suspect.I loved the film and will watch it again soon.

    6.5/10    … Expand
  3. eugeneha
    0
    My son introduced me to metacritic today as an alternative to Rotten Tomatos and IMDB. This was the first movie I checked just to see what kind of reviews it got and I was very disappointed indeed. This was undoubtedly the absolute worst movie I have ever had the misfortune to watch. I just totally wasted an hour and a half of both my life and my wife's! Bruce Willis must be getting it tight if he had to resort to "acting" in this utter piece of trash! 6 stars!!! What a joke! Do yourself a favour and avoid this movie like the plague!… Expand

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