Lay the Favorite

Beth Raymer arrives in Las Vegas with a calculator in hand and a stubborn grip on numbers. She isn’t chasing a dream so much as a place where odds are real and the math makes sense. Her knack for spotting patterns draws the attention of a sharp but wary sports book operator, Dink Heimowitz, who runs his operation on the casino floor and in the shadows. The two strike a working partnership that tilts on trust, risk, and the odd friendship that grows between Beth and Tulip, Dink’s glamorous, scheming wife. The story follows their days in a world where bets are life and luck is a constant variable, told with wit and warmth, never turning dark for long.

Directed by Stephen Frears, the film adapts Beth Raymer's memoir Lay the Favorite for the screen. Released in 2012, it stars Rebecca Hall with Bruce Willis and Catherine Zeta-Jones, and carries a production budget of about 26.35 million worldwide today.

Critics found the tonal mix of sharp wit and casino drama uneven yet stylish, with Rebecca Hall delivering a steady, pragmatic performance and Willis delivering his hard-edged presence. The film weighs ambition against luck and explores power dynamics in a male dominated arena, and the risks that come with bets.

Lay the Favorite sits as a stylish yet under the radar entry in Stephen Frears' filmography, capturing a late 2000s Vegas vibe and a female led counterpoint to older gambling tales. It helps round out a niche line of baccarat and bookmaking stories, and it showcases Hall as a lead.