Lay The Favorite

Synopsis: Beth, who lap dances to make ends meet, leaves Florida for Las Vegas hoping to be a cocktail waitress. She meets two women who introduce her to Dink, a gambler with a system. He hires her - she's good with numbers - and she promptly falls for him, even though he's married to a woman who seems to do nothing but spend his money. Beth tries to entice Dink whose wife, Tulip, tells him to choose; he does and promptly goes on a losing streak. The repercussions of his choice play out with a heavy gambler who has a parole officer, a cheesy bookmaker in Curaçao, Beth's desire to keep a friend out of prison, and help from an unlikely source.
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Director(s): Stephen Frears
Production: Weinstein Co.
 
IMDB:
4.8
Metacritic:
38
Rotten Tomatoes:
18%
R
Year:
2012
94 min
$20,998
Website
158 Views


- Unbelievable.

- I can't hold it much longer.

You've almost got the record.

Come on, 20 more seconds.

Hold on tight...

I think I'm about to pass out!

I can't!

Oh...

Mm... Oh, my God!

This is so good!

I put a little Cointreau in.

- Mm.

- That's the secret.

Mm. I have to

go in a minute,

- do you want to dance?

- Yeah.

Just blows me away

Unskinny bop, bop

All night and day

Unskinny bop, bop, bop

She just loves to play

Unskinny bop Nothing more to say

You look at me so funny

Love bite got you acting oh so strange

You got too many

bees in your honey...

You're a f***ing hot one, ain't ya?

Oh, I'm OK.

Check us out.

Can you... put that away?

You're scaring me.

Well, you should be scared.

It's a healthy reaction

to a big ass gun like this.

Yeah.

OK.

I'm going to go now, time's up.

I guess you've got to go.

OK.

I enjoyed your company!

I hope you come back!

Get me out of here.

OK, Otis, we're going.

We are going, right now.

Come on, honey.

- Hi, Dad.

- Beth! Bethanna...

- Hey.

- Hello.

- OK, what's up?

- I need to do something else.

What's wrong with the pet sitting?

I never knew anyone who could

make so much off that.

Yeah, the money's good,

but the pets are not always that nice.

I'm burned out.

Take it from me, now is not the

time to put down a good job.

You still haven't found anything?

No, nobody's buying cars.

Hell, they're barely making them.

Well, it's more than just my job.

I need like a big change.

I have to, I don't know...

I want stimulation.

And I want good money.

And I want a change of

scenery that's interesting.

OK... OK, let me think if I

know anybody over at the mall.

Yeah, it's not going to do it.

I want to move to Las Vegas

and be a cocktail waitress.

Beth Anne...

...goddamn,

that is a great idea!

Wow! Yeah, Oh...

Caesars Palace.

- That's where you got to get in!

- Caesars would be amazing!

Oh...

- I think the hot plate works.

- I'll take it.

Go! Go...

Oh, so close.

Go! Yes... Oh! Oh.

Please... Go on!

Hey. I advise you to

stop playing this thing.

Why? Am I in trouble

or something?

No, no. It's just...

You seem like a nice girl,

and flip's for retards.

Oh... OK.

- Thank you.

- No problem. Have a nice evening.

Hey, wait.

Do you know where I could find

a job as a cocktail waitress?

I think you pretty much have to grab the tray

the exact second one of these

golden girls kicks the bucket.

This is a union town.

Take it easy.

Huh.

Why don't you strip?

It's good money.

Yeah, I don't think I want to do that.

You've done it before, right?

Why do you say that?

- 'Cause it's kind of obvious.

- It is? Really?

Just to us girls in the club.

I just want to do something

exciting and different.

- I came here to...

- Yeah, change everything.

Hey, Holly, what about Dink?

- What's Dink?

- Doesn't he need anybody?

Well, that's kind of...

You know, I kind of need to know someone

before I send them to Dink.

It requires a great deal of trustworthiness.

Oh, my God, you guys...

I am super trustworthy.

All right.

- Hi.

- Hi. Are you Dink?

I am Dink, yes.

You must be Beth. Come in.

So, how much do you know about gambling?

Uh, I played some

Flip-It the other night...

How'd you do?

I was told it was for retards,

but I got really into it.

I might not trust you with my money.

You're going to rob me and

go play Flip-It all night.

No, no, I'm not.

Come on, I need this Louisiana

game to stay under...

- Not for a little.

- So, you're a bookie.

Absolutely not.

Bookmaking's illegal.

I'm a gambler.

Everything I do here

is completely legal in the state of Nevada.

So, do you play poker or blackjack?

Some poker... blackjack,

not really gambling.

It's just no skill, no odds.

Just a racket for the casinos to make money.

Well, my dad played a lot of blackjack.

Sorry to hear that.

Ah, this San Francisco line is way too high.

Look at something.

You see that little patch

of yellow skin right there?

- Nope.

- Well, maybe not in this light.

Anyway, I make my lines. Then

I compare them to the books.

- To the books?

- Sports books.

A sports book is where you go to

make a bet on a sporting game.

You can do that here in Vegas,

or you can do it online overseas,

but I gotta do it here.

So, I gotta send guys that run and take the

money down there and make the bets for me.

Maybe that's something you could

do, if you come down here to work.

I can't believe you can't see

this little yellow mark.

So, I specialize in horse racing,

hockey and baseball, but

we bet on all sports here.

- Can I?

- NFL, NBA, the PGA,

NCAA Football, NCAA Basketball,

tennis, the WNBA,

Little League World Series,

the National Spelling Bee Competition,

the Miss America Beauty Pageant,

the... Coney Island

Hot Dog Eating Contest.

Pretty much anything, always odds can be made.

That is a lot of stuff.

Yes, but all I have to do is make 55

percent, and I am very, very happy.

It's about time!

- You're both late.

- Construction!

- Hi...

- Beth, say hi to Frankie and Scott.

Hey, do not fall in love with me.

- OK.

- - Don't believe a word he says.

Frankie is a much better person than he seems.

Scott, on the other hand, is the sensible one.

If you ever need me for something and I'm busy?

I'm going to bet this seven horse.

First time starter.

Could be a total zero.

- New York's moving big time.

- Call Jazz.

I wish you guys weren't late...

One-six-four

Ivy sixth race...

OK, here's what just happened in New York.

They're moving their line, so now we're

trying to move our lines accordingly

to adjust for a couple of outs that

haven't moved their lines yet.

- You understand?

- Uh-uh.

The rules at Dink Inc.

are responsibility

to come on time is job is number one.

Number two, keep your head around the numbers.

You've got to learn the numbers.

Very important to get the numbers down.

Rule number three, do not steal.

Most people fail at one of those.

- Is that a guinea pig?

- That is my hamster, Jyrki.

I named him Jyrki Lumme

after the defenseman from Vancouver Canucks.

- Oh.

- And that is my wife, Tulip.

She's on a cruise in the Bahamas right now.

Dinky, Dinky. This nag you

bet on is coming up fast!

- Go, go, go...

- - Wow, wow, wow...

Come on! Come on...

You won!

- You won!

- Genius.

Just like that. Wow.

I have to pay attention to this now.

Um, meet me at the sports book at the Rio.

Eight AM sharp, OK?

Do you need some money?

- No.

- Everybody needs money.

Take it. OK? Bye.

- Thank you.

- Yeah, take it easy.

You're lucky if Dinky hires you.

He's a good guy to work for.

He buys his crew breakfast and lunch.

And how does a girl like you

get along with Dinky's wife?

I haven't met her yet.

- Is that right?

- - Hey, Dinky!

There she is! I thought I

scared you off yesterday.

Hey, I know you.

It's the Flip-It girl.

Oh, no. You're not

still playing Flip-It?

- No.

- Just do me a favor, go into the counter...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes

D.V. DeVincentis

All D.V. DeVincentis scripts | D.V. DeVincentis Scripts

0 fans

Submitted on August 05, 2018

Discuss this script with the community:

0 Comments

    Translation

    Translate and read this script in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "Lay The Favorite" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 19 Dec. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/lay_the_favorite_12334>.

    We need you!

    Help us build the largest writers community and scripts collection on the web!

    Watch the movie trailer

    Lay The Favorite

    The Studio:

    ScreenWriting Tool

    Write your screenplay and focus on the story with many helpful features.


    Quiz

    Are you a screenwriting master?

    »
    What does the term "plant and payoff" refer to in screenwriting?
    A Introducing a plot element early that becomes important later
    B The introduction of main characters
    C Setting up the final scene
    D The payment to writers for their scripts