The Cooler Movie Review:


The Cooler starts with a grandly pathetic entrance by Bernie, played by William H. Macy, the unluckiest man in Vegas. He meekly limps his way across a casino floor, passing his bad luck onto every person he touches. He limps as a result of bad gambling debts, which have brought him to this point, working for the casino Shangri-La, as a cooler. A cooler is an old fashioned man who is brought in to bring bad luck to the big winners.

Bernie is the best at what he does, but his debt is almost paid, and he will be free to go. This is upseting to the casino manager, played by Alec Baldwin, because his casino is in the middle of a lot of changes being brought on by the
partners of the casino. Everything changes suddenly for Bernie though, when he begins a romantic relationship with coctail waitress Natalie, played by Maria Bello. Natalie brings luck into Bernie's life, which leaks into his work. Things begin to complicate with many sudden events such as the return of Bernie's son and his seemingly pregnant fiance.

The Cooler is a wonderful tale with just enough fantasy to allow the rest of the film to remain very realistic. Like many of the films out right now,
there is a stark dramatic sense to The Cooler, but unlike many films such as Monster, or 21 Grams, this film knows how to add variety with humor. The
performances may be more subtle because of this, but they are just as worthy of praise. Baldwin is at the top of his game, playing a role that seems
written for him, and Macy is fantastic as always.

The Cooler is one of the lighter dramas of the season, and somehow the characters seem easier to care about. Wayne Kramer, who directs and also
co-writes, creates Vegas as a glamorous setting, staying with the fantasy feeling, leaving all of the sleaze out of the casino. The Cooler is one of
the less important films of the year, but also one of the more injoyable ones.

Ryan Izay

There's an effective lounge lizard vibe to this tale of luck and love in Las Vegas, but that's about it! Besides some good performances, it struggles to rise above its clunky script and direction. Bernie (Macy) is a "cooler", bad luck incarnate helping people lose at the Shangri-La Casino. In this way he's working off his debt to the casino owner, his old pal Shelly (Baldwin), who's facing pressure from a sharp big-city whiz kid (Livingston) to modernise the casino. Bernie is such a loser that when barmaid Natalie (Bello) comes on to him he tells her he can't afford to pay. But she seems genuinely interested. Even when Bernie's long-lost son (Hatosy) and pregnant girlfriend (Warren) show up one day. But falling in love is changing Bernie's luck. And Shelly doesn't like it.

There's an interesting story here about luck and destiny, superstition and the strength of true love. But it's told with rather obvious filmmaking in which every thematic idea is badly overstated, including numerous references to Lost Horizon that culminate in a big speech just in case we haven't got it already. Meanwhile, the film's style is retro-cheesy, drawing heavily from 60s cinema even though the story is set today (one of the characters says, "Nostalgia belongs in a museum!"). Everything is done in this style--direction, music, acting--but at least the performances are solid. Macy seems born to play this role as a likeable loser stunned to find love. And Bello is terrific. When they're at the centre we can almost ignore the awkward plotting that surrounds them. We can almost drown out the flood of questions the film raises but never answers (Why does Shelly seem determined to go bankrupt? Why hasn't anything been stolen from the kids' open-top convertible? Why does Nascarella's mob boss go suddenly violent in public without any repercussions? And so on). It's like the script was written by someone who's never been in a casino, let alone Las Vegas! And it's frustrating to watch good performances drown in a sea of movie cliches just when we become interested in what might happen next.

Rich Cline

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