the Frears canon, it's still a likable caper." Kyle Smith of the New York Post praised Frears for continuing to "display an impeccable sense of character and setting" in his latest feature, saying he "has a lot of fun with the bad tempers and high spirits of this crew of adrenaline junkies, and though the story falls a little flat, the script is sprinkled with dry wit." James Berardinelli wrote that despite Willis giving a "fine performance" as Dink Heimowitz, he felt the film was a "sitcom blown up to big-screen proportions" that carries "a series of missed opportunities" when delving into the characters' relationships and the gambling world, concluding that: "It won't take nearly as long to forget Lay the Favorite. It's the epitome of mediocrity - not a phrase often associated with a director having Frears' track record." Scott Tobias of NPR compared Lay the Favorite to the Demi Moore film Striptease, saying its "a listless comedy built around a vivacious protagonist" that carries a "neither-here-nor-there quality" based on non-commitment of adapting the material and "lack of directorial interest" from Frears. Steve Macfarlane of Slant Magazine wrote that: "Lay the Favorite is obviously worse than it should be, but it's also a thinner and more pallid experience than it would have been if it were a total catastrophe—if it had any ambition. As it stands, it's content to aim squarely for the much-celebrated Indiewood middle, and falls short. Lawsuit While the film was received poorly at the box office, it was picked up for streaming by Netflix and Amazon Video. As a result of this, mapmaker Victor Baker sued Warner Bros. as the film, which is set in the country of Curaçao, used one of Baker's antique-style watercolor maps of the country as part of the set decorations. His lawsuit demanded either statutory damages or fair market value of the licensing fee for use of the map. References External links 2012 films 2012 comedy-drama films 2012 independent films 2010s American films 2010s English-language films American comedy-drama films American independent films Films based on autobiographies Films directed by Stephen Frears Films set in Curaçao Films set in Florida Films set in the Las Vegas Valley Films set in New York City Films shot in the Las Vegas Valley Films about gambling MoviePass Films films Works subject to a lawsuit