Beth (Rebecca Hall) is a dreamer. Moving from her Southern
roots to Vegas with dreams of stepping up in life and becoming a cocktail
waitress (yes that is her initial ambition) she moves into a low rent motel
where she makes friends who give her another option. Rather than be manhandled
all day they send her to Dink (Bruce Willis), a professional gambler who bets
on any and everything.
Dink Inc. is a business where the odds are always
manipulated by the placing of bets in legal form. Not only does this pay Dink
well but it helps take care of those who are working for him as well. With a
head for numbers, Beth is a natural and soon Dink Inc. is doing well and Beth
with it. Now all she has to do is get past Tulip (Catherine Zeta-Jones).
Tulip is Dink's wife and to say she is jealous is an
understatement. Then again there have been times when her jealousy was well
founded. As Beth begins to fall for Dink and attempt to sway him, Tulip steps
in and puts an end to it. Beth loses her job, meets a young man named Jeremy
(Joshua Jackson) and its love at first sight. With no reason to stay she plans
on going back to New York with Jeremy when he leaves. But Dink is in a slump of
bad luck and he thinks Beth was his good luck charm so he convinces her to come
back.
Beth's return doesn't increase Dink's luck any more than the
rising sun. Within days he tosses her and his whole team out again. Unwilling
to wait around another day, Beth heads to New York and Jeremy. Once there she
contacts Rosie (Vince Vaughan), a low life illegal bookie she met through Dink,
and helps him run his business. Plans are to set up in the Caribbean where gambling
is legal with Beth running the show. As always, things don't go as planned.
Soon Beth finds herself and Jeremy with the possibility of
going to jail on federal gambling charges. Rosie is no help, a self centered
low life who could care less who gets hurt, something Dink warned Beth about
when she first met Rosie. Back on top with Tulip convinced there was never
anything going on with Beth or the chance that it will, Dink and Tulip head to
New York in an attempt to save the day.
The movie is directed by Stephen Frears who made THE
GRIFTERS, THE QUEEN and DANGEROUS LIASONS. With those titles to his credit,
expectations for this film are high. Unfortunately they don't come close to
those other films. That's not to say this film isn't interesting or even fun,
but don't have high expectations and you might just enjoy it.
The film is well made and looks top of the line in the
production values area. For not being hyped as the hottest thing out of
Hollywood, Hall turns in a worthwhile performance and makes her naive character
quite believable. Zeta-Jones does a great job as well in a role that doesn't
require her to exude sex non-stop for once. Best of all is Willis who gets the
chance to play a character that doesn't shoot anyone or blow things up.
Sometimes people forget what a good actor he actually is.
While this film isn't Oscar material it does offer a nice
evening's entertainment. Based on the memoirs of the real Beth, it might even
stir up enough interest in her story to sell a few books. If not it will at
least encourage a trip to the library.
Click here to order.
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