Cheap The Cooler (DVD) (William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello) (Wayne Kramer) Price

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The Cooler
Bernie Lootz is a loser. He is so much a loser that he makes the people around him have bad luck. And that comes in handy in his job as a "cooler" at the Shangri-La Casino in Las Vegas. Whenever someone is getting a little too lucky in the casino, in comes Bernie, and the hot streak is over. But then a funny thing happens...Bernie finds love in a cocktail waitress at the Shangri-La, and all of a sudden, Bernie's cooling powers are failing him. This is not good news for the owner, Shelly Kaplow who is feeling pressure from a mob boss to update his business methods. William H. Macy has sort of perfected the loser guy roles, so it is no surprise that he gives a good performance as Bernie, and when things start to go right for him, you feel happy for the poor guy. Alec Baldwin does a great job as the casino owner clinging to an antiquated way of doing things. All in all, a surprisingly enjoyable little movie.

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Casino - but different...
The Cooler, like so many critically-praised films I wait to see on video, didn't quite live up to its expectations. It's a good movie, but not great. It starts with the unique premise (possibly true) that in Old School Las Vegas, "coolers" - people with bad luck - were employed by the casinos to bring bad luck to the gamblers. William H. Macy gives another wonderful performance as the eponymous cooler. He is about to quit his job when he falls in love with a beautiful young cocktail waitress. Suddenly, his luck turns from bad to good. I have to say that we get more nude shots of Macy in this film than I ever wanted to see. I read that they were going to cut them out to get a different MPAA rating but Macy protested. He felt that, at the age of fifty, it was about time that he finally got to do a sex scene.

The best thing about this movie is the supporting performance from Alec Baldwin. He deserved his Best Supporting Actor nomination. Unfortunately, Hollywood had to wait until Baldwin was middle-aged and overweight to realize that he was a good actor.

As for the rest of the movie, I'm afraid that it treads a lot of familiar ground that we have seen in other movies like Casino - or even The Sopranos for that matter. There were many times that I thought the film was going to end, but it kept going. However, it's better than average and makes for a good rental.

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MUDDLED, BUT WORTHWHILE
The Cooler is a dark tale of luck and free will. It is loaded with brilliant performances. Yet it falls well short of its potential.

The best thing about The Cooler is Maria Bello. She is among a handful of the most beautiful women on the screen these days. As Natalie she exudes an emotional depth and an aching honesty that almost makes this movie something great.

Almost.

Despite similarly wonderful performances from Baldwin and Macy, this dark comedy drowns in its "dark" (dank to be more precise). The Cooler can't figure out if it wants to be a gangster flick, a romantic comedy, a dark comedy, or an elegy for the old ways of Vegas. That the movie almost pulls this off is a credit to the actors involved.

The Cooler misses its mark though. I found it enjoyable, but I have the feeling that most of my friends would either have their patience tested or balk at the heavy violence and sexual content. People watching a slightly more humorous version of Leaving Las Vegas still have to deal with the existential goo of Leaving Las Vegas--no matter the outcome or humor along the way.

That said, if you feel you're up to the challenge, The Cooler, for all its scattershot befuddlement, does sing a strain of the greatest song of all: the song of Love and its power to save and transform--a song well worth listening to--in any form.

"Set me as a seal upon your heart, as a seal upon your arm, for love is strong as death, jealousy is fierce as the grave. Its flashes are flashes of fire, the very flame of the LORD. Many waters cannot quench love, neither can floods drown it."