Lay the Favorite

Lay the Favorite - Dir. Stephen Frears (2012)

Stephen Frears has had a long and diverse career as a director. He's helmed some winners (High Fidelity) and some losers (Mary Reilly). Frears has also directed two Best Picture nominees in Dangerous Liaisons and The Queen. So you can't help but feel that he and his cast are slumming with Lay the Favorite.

Rebecca Hall plays Beth, a beautiful free-spirit whose life is going nowhere fast. She's a stripper who makes house calls and the occupation doesn't exactly thrill her. On a whim, Beth decides to pack her bags for Las Vegas in order to become a cocktail waitress. Hey, dream big, right?

Much to her chagrin, Beth quickly learns that the waitress industry is unionized and she has no way in. Thanks to a pair of friendly neighborhood strippers, Beth gets a job taking bets for a gambler named Dink (Bruce Willis), whose operation gives odds on every major sport along with beauty pageants and spelling bees. Despite an utter lack of experience, Beth catches on quickly thanks to a winning personality and a knack for numbers. In the process, she finds herself attracted to Dink. However, his temperament runs hot and cold depending on his luck and he has a controlling wife in Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones). Beth rebounds into the arms of Jeremy (Joshua Jackson), a nice and normal journalist in New York City. Finding herself without any job prospects in the Big Apple, Beth falls into old habits by going to work for Dink's rival, Rosie (Vince Vaughn). She doesn't seem fazed that bookmaking is illegal outside of Nevada.

Lay the Favorite is based on the memoirs of Beth Raymer, who chronicled her journey from stripping to working operations in the Caribbean and Costa Rica where bookmaking is unregulated. In between, she tried her hand at amateur boxing, which is never mentioned in the movie. Raymer certainly led an interesting life, but you would never know it according to the fictionalized account. Lay the Favorite prefers to be a mildly amusing romp with a few romantic comedy tropes and a smidgeon of the con artist picture that Frears toyed with previously in The Grifters and Dirty Pretty Things.

One of the reasons Lay the Favorite fails to engage is a lack of intriguing and sympathetic characters. It's hard to root for Beth when she consistently makes monumentally foolish mistakes, especially when they threaten to drag others down with her. Rebecca Hall is a fantastic actress and looks gorgeous here as she sashays around the Vegas strip in cut-off jean shorts. She pulls off the ditzy routine well and her speech patterns are somewhere in between Marilyn Monroe and Betty Boop. However, there's only so much Hall can do when the character is so thin. This is a case where Hall's boundless personality far exceeds the role. Her love story with Jeremy lacks any spark since he's an utterly bland romantic interest. Hall's scenes with Bruce Willis are of slightly more interest because the latter isn't simply sleepwalking through the movie. Willis brings a little of the energy that made him a star on Moonlighting.

Catherine Zeta-Jones is fun as Dink's overbearing wife though he eventually turns far too easily from harridan to kindly maternal figure. Laura Prepon of That 70's Show fame appears briefly as one of Beth's friends, although her look and bad southern accent may trick you into thinking she's Jamie Pressley Then, there's Vince Vaughn who is once again typecast as the fast-talking huckster and Corbin Bernsen in a throwaway cameo as Beth's father. If only the screenplay by D.V. DiVincentis were better. Frears has an A-list cast and gives them C-list material.

Lay the Favorite had the opportunity to be an enthralling exposé of the gambling world. Think Moneyball in Sin City. Instead, the movie puts it all on the line until the dice finally come up snake eyes. Nothing of note here other than Rebecca Hall's hotness and a brief topless scene by Prepon.

Rating: * ½ (*****)

The Watch

The Watch - Dir. Akiva Schaffer (2012)

The Watch is a textbook case of bad timing. Originally titled Neighborhood Watch, Fox renamed the film following the killing of Trayvon Martin and changed the ad campaign to emphasize the sci-fi elements. However, The Watch was released a week after the shootings in Aurora and the country hardly seemed ready to laugh at a quartet of overzealous, gun-toting vigilantes. The shadow of the bat was also looming large. Those who weren't skittish preferred to see The Dark Knight Rises and The Watch pulled in a paltry $12.7 million opening weekend.

Just as he did in Tower Heist, Ben Stiller is the earnest straight man to a gaggle of wacky characters. He plays Evan Trautwig, the manager of a Costco located in the small town of Glenview, Ohio. Evan is an active member of the community, volunteering at the retirement home and founding numerous groups like the running club. His latest venture is a neighborhood watch, which is formed after the murder of the store's security guard. At the first meeting, Evan is joined by Bob (Vince Vaughn), Franklin (Jonah Hill), and Jamarcus (Richard Ayoade). Bob is searching for some male camaraderie. He's more interested in shooting pool and drinking beers than solving crimes. Franklin is the watch's hothead, perpetually angry and bitter that he was rejected by the local police force. Jamarcus is a laidback eccentric fantasizing about a salacious rendezvous with an Asian housewife. The newly formed quartet have more to worry about than skateboard riding punks when they uncover an alien invasion in their midst.

The Watch was directed by Akiva Schaffer, best known for helming Hot Rod and many of the SNL Digital Shorts. He and his Lonely Island cohorts, Jorma Toccone and Andy Samberg, have quick cameos. The script was written by Jared Stern, whose previous credits include Bolt, The Princess and the Frog, and Mr. Popper's Penguins, and intended as a PG picture. The story was rewritten by Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg, who took on a more decidedly R-rated approach. As such, The Watch simultaneously lampoons and celebrates regressive male behavior. Each of the main protagonists has been emasculated in their own way. Evan has been unable to impregnate his wife, Abby (Rosemarie DeWitt), while Bob is the father to a wild teenage daughter (Erin Moriarty). He is the classic stereotype of the controlling, overprotective dad. Bob hacks her Facebook account and his stalker behavior is validated when his suspicions about her jock boyfriend turn out to be true. Franklin is a junior league Travis Bickle, full of rage and similar to Rogen's character in Observe & Report. He's always armed with a butterfly knife and keeps a stockade of guns in his bedroom at his mom's house. Franklin becomes the unlikely savior of the movie as it climaxes into a two-fisted, John Woo slow-mo bullet ballet.

The humor is purely juvenile revolving around genitalia and homosexuality. The lead actors don't give performances we haven't seen in any of their other films. We do get a livelier Vince Vaughn than previously seen. Only Vaughn could milk so much humor over a Russian nesting doll. Also funny, Will Forte as an obtuse police officer and an uncredited Billy Crudup as Evan's creepy neighbor. The real revelation of The Watch is the least known face adorning the theatrical posters. Richard Ayoade might be known to fans of British television for his roles on The IT Crowd or Garth Marenghi's Darkplace or even his directorial work on Submarine. He's relatively unknown stateside and if there's any justice, he'll get bigger and better parts. Ayoade provides a unique deadpan sense of humor that elevates all of his scenes.

It is obvious The Watch desperately wants to fill the same position that Ghostbusters occupies in the pop culture pantheon. As an action-comedy, The Watch is too pedestrian on both fronts to be anything memorable. Check out Attack the Block instead.

Rating: ** (*****)

The Dilemma

The Dilemma - Dir. Ron Howard (2011)

The Dilemma stirred up some controversy over a scene in which Vince Vaughn's character derogatively referred to electric cars as "gay." The joke was poorly timed following a tragic spate of teen suicides and the ugly comments by an Arkansas school board member. In the end, the controversy disappeared quicker than the movie did. The Dilemma was released in the doldrums of January and vanished from theaters a month later.

Vaughn plays Ronny Valentine, a fast-talking businessman who runs a small automotive design firm with his best friend, Nick (Kevin James). They're about to land the biggest contract of their lives after successfully pitching Chrysler their idea for an energy efficient engine with the power and feel of a classic muscle car. Nick's struggle to actually pull off his novel invention isn't the dilemma of the film's title. The real dilemma comes when Ronny discovers Nick's wife, Geneva (Winona Ryder), is having an affair with a younger man (Channing Tatum). Obviously, Ronny can't tell his BFF because then there wouldn't be a movie. No, Ronny decides to follow Geneva around like an amateur detective looking to gather enough evidence to bust her.

The previews made The Dilemma out be a lighthearted comedy when that's only partially true. Much like another Vince Vaughn vehicle, The Break-Up, The Dilemma is an unbalanced mixture of wacky comedy and heavy-handed drama. The usually competent (if bland) Ron Howard seems like the wrong director to juggle the story's fracture tonal shifts. Vaughn does his usual wiseacre routine as his once sterling career continues on a downward trajectory. The sharp tongued Vaughn of Swingers and Old School fame has disappeared, chipped away after years of doing terrible pictures like Fred Claus, Four Christmases, and Couples Retreat. It would be a safe bet to guess the filmmakers were hoping to get Jon Favreau for the Kevin James role or at least try to capture some of that same chemistry. They don't as James is given little to do beyond being the typical schlubby guy.

Beyond the basic comedic trappings, the movie takes a few vain stabs at lowbrow, Apatow-esque humor with Queen Latifah's character. She delivers bawdy lines about "lady wood" and having sex with people's words and it all feels completely forced and unfunny. The Dilemma also veers into slapstick when Ronny attempts to confront Geneva's boytoy, who is known simply as Zip. The chaotic scene culminates in Ronny threatening to burn Zip's apartment building down with a makeshift flamethrower made from an aerosol can. As the loverboy, Tatum is surprisingly funny in lampooning his own meathead persona. You know your movie is in trouble when the best thing in it is Channing Tatum. Jennifer Connelly is also excellent as Ronny's girlfriend, Beth. She lends an additional layer of gravitas to every scene she's in and is way better than this movie deserves. It helps that she looks insanely gorgeous too. Never has a Chicago Cubs shirt looked better than it does on Jennifer Connelly. Perhaps, she did the role as payment for Howard and producer Brian Grazer for helping her net that Oscar for A Beautiful Mind.

Rating: * (*****)

Couples Retreat

Couples Retreat - Dir. Peter Billingsley (2009)

Couples Retreat seems to have the making of a decent movie: a stellar cast, beautiful locales, and a script co-written by the guys who did Swingers. Instead, it winds up being a crashing bore.

Jason Bateman and Kristen Bell are an anal-retentive couple of yuppies who are having marriage troubles due to their inability to have a child. They discover a high-class, tropical retreat and convince their friends to attend so they can get a cheaper group rate. Everyone thinks it will be an extended vacation, but the maître d', Sctanley (Peter Serafinowicz), with a silent C, insists they all must participate in therapy sessions. Vince Vaughn and Malin Akerman are in a seemingly happy marriage, but cracks begin to form during counseling. Jon Favreau and Kristin Davis are the jock and cheerleader, high school sweethearts who married too early. Both spend more time hitting on other people than with each other. Faizon Love is recently divorced and overcompensates by dating a much younger woman (Kali Hawk) he can't keep up with.

Couples Retreat could have been an interesting piece about how the twentysomethings from Swingers deal with being fortysomething and married. Instead, it's toothless comedy mass marketed and test audienced until it becomes an innocuously bland lump. The script was co-written by Favreau and Vaughn (along with Dana Fox, What Happens in Vegas), but it has none of the bite of Swingers or Made. Vaughn sleepwalks through the movie using his stale wiseacre act as he tosses unfunny quips right and left. Jean Reno is reduced to being guy with a funny accent as the island's New Age guru. The movie can't even manage to elicit a subdued chuckle with Ken Jeong and John Michael Higgins as officious therapists.

The film's biggest and showiest set piece involves Vaughn challenging Sctanley to a round of Guitar Hero. References to the game were already dated before the movie was even released. That comes after we've already seen Favreau pop a boner and try to coax a happy ending out of his masseuse. There's also a running gag with Vaughn's son obliviously taking a dump in the show toilet of an IKEA. Yes, jokes about poop and masturbation and not even good ones to boot.

Shot on location in Bora Bora, Couples Retreat likely attracted an A-list cast who were mainly interested in getting a paid vacation. Outside of Kristin Davis in a bikini, there's nothing worthwhile to be found. The best thing I can say about the movie is that it was directed by Ralphie from A Christmas Story.

Rating: *

Four Christmases

Four Christmases - Dir. Seth Gordon (2008)


Vince Vaughn was funny once, right? I’m not crazy when I say that, am I? He’s cracked me up in movies like Swingers, Made, and Dodgeball. Now, we have a Vince Vaughn whose tired, fast-talking wiseass act has grown thin. After one failed Christmas movie in Fred Claus, Vaughn follows it up with another wretched holiday film. With a brief runtime of 82 minutes, Four Christmases still manages to drag on and on in a neverending torrent of mean spirited, lowbrow humor. The characters are abrasive, smug, and unsympathetic while their families are as equally annoying.

Director Seth Gordon made an impressive debut with The King of Kong, but I hope this isn’t the path his career is going to take. Even more mind boggling is how they roped five Oscar winners into doing this piece of garbage.

Rating: DUD