REVIEW | Lay The Favourite

The themes and instances covered in this movie come pre-packaged with drama, tension and cool, yet somehow they spunk all of that up against the wall and make a mediocre flick where nothing happens. Rebecca Hall plays a stripper who decides to relocate to Vegas to become a cocktail waitress. There she ends up falling in with lovable Bruce Willis and working for him in his professional gambling outfit. This works perfectly until his wife (Zeta Jones) turns up and forces her to be sacked. Then she falls for Joshua Jackson and joins forces with the far less likable Vince Vaughn to work for him. This descends into potential chaos and shit ensues. The main issue with the film is that every thing seems far too safe, sunny and easy. Even when trouble seems to be looming, you are never left questioning the outcome. The stars seem to sleepwalk through the entire running time and you start to get the feeling that they’re taking the piss and this is all part of a big joke that the audience are not in on.

Perhaps the bigger joke is Stephen Frears seeing how many shit movies he can make before people stop letting him make movies. On this evidence it can’t be too long before he’s directing straight to video shit, he’s proven with this movie that he’s talented at doing so.

Verdict: Spunk

DAN

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