'The Cooler' sort of flew under the radar in its initial run. It deserves a much wider audience than it received in theatrical release. Writer/director Wayne Kramer has achieved something remarkable here--a love story within a love story: an unlikely romance between a professional loser and an aging cocktail waitress cast against an almost reverent paean to the old Las Vegas, when Frank, Deano, and Sammy reigned supreme and there wasn't a pirate ship or roller coaster to be found. Kramer also brings out some amazing performances, especially by Alec Baldwin as Shelly Kaplow, arguably his finest performance ever, and easily his best since 'Glengarry Glen Ross' or 'Malice.'
The plot itself hinges on an old, all but forgotten Vegas tradition: William H. Macy is Bernie, a professional 'cooler'--a guy whose luck is so bad it's contagious, and who is paid to sidle up to any table where a gambler is on a run of luck and cool the action with his mere presence. The film's opening scene has an almost surreal quality, as hang-dog Bernie paces the floor, magically passing his bad luck with nothing more than a subtle touch of green felt or brass.
Bernie works at the Golden Shangri-La, a bastion of Vegas traditionalism managed by Shelley Kaplow (Alec Baldwin), who runs his casino with religious fidelity to the old ways, idealizing the Rat Pack-era Vegas, the days before Sin City became, in Shelley's words, a "Disneyland mookfest."
But Shelley is under pressure: longtime club headliner Buddy Stafford (Paul Sorvino) is way past his prime and carries a dark secret. The casino's investors have grown reluctant to hold on to the old ways at the expense of the record-breaking revenues being brought in by the newer, flashier, family-friendly casinos, and Shelley finds himself in a power struggle with Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston), a Harvard-educated wunderkind brought in to revitalize the struggling Shangri-La.
Last but not least of Shelley's troubles is that Bernie the Cooler has announced his intention to leave town. Shelley has owned Bernie for years (Bernie's crippled shuffle is a souvenir from his days of gambling addiction administered by Shelley for non-payment of a massive debt), but Bernie is now in the clear and wants to put Vegas behind him.
But Bernie finds himself reconsidering after he falls into bed with Natalie (Maria Bello), a failed showgirl-turned-cocktail waitress who propositions Bernie after he notices her being groped by a gambler on a hot streak and promptly cools the offending customer's luck. Unfortunately, Bernie's first dose of good luck in ages comes with a particular liability: having unexpectedly found happiness, Bernie finds his talent for passing on bad luck has reversed itself--to the chagrin of Shelley Kaplow.
William H. Macy has long been respected has a character actor, and it's a treat to see him bring his talents to a rare lead role for a middle-aged actor of average appearance. His Bernie is truly pathetic, and yet his charm and growing confidence make his affair with Natalie believable and inspiring. Bernie is a loser, but he has courage and character, especially when confronted with his failure as a father when his dead-beat hustler son (Shawn Hatosy) appears with a pregnant, coke-snorting girlfriend (Estella Warren) in tow.
Maria Bello gives an astonishing, award-worthy performance as Natalie. It's just a mystery to me that she is not a major star. She is stunningly beautiful but also persuasively real, and her moments of honesty and vulnerability in this film stick with you. Natalie is not without considerable flaws, but her love for Bernie is absolutely believable, and I found myself feeling deeply invested in them.
Much of the small buzz around this film was generated by Macy and Bello's sex scenes, which are genuinely remarkable--visceral and explicit without seeming the least bit pornographic or gratuitous. This is attributable to the investment of the actors in their characters and their craft. The ardor feels totally genuine. Bello and Macy look not like actors playing roles, but like two people in love, going at it like they're never going to get another chance.
But inasmuch as Bernie and Natalie are the clear hero and heroine, in certain respects, the film belongs to Alec Baldwin's Shelley. Baldwin hasn't had such a plum role in ages: Shelley is both a malicious sociopath and a tender, affectionate father figure. His loyalty to the old-school ways and his refusal to accept that Sinatra's Vegas is gone forever is genuinely tragic. Baldwin owns some of the film's finest moments: a rip-roaring tirade against the crassly commercialized Vegas embodied by his younger rival; a surprisingly tender moment with the aging crooner Buddy Stafford, where Shelley appears in Buddy's dressing room and tries to stroke the singer's flagging ego by presenting him a pair of panties he claims to have found hanging on the door-handle outside, only to have the harrowingly tragic Buddy point out that he knows Shelley bought the panties in the casino's lingerie shop, along with the services of the 'groupie' who'll be arriving shortly after Shelley leaves; a drunken catharsis after a confrontation with Bernie over Natalie that ends with Shelley smashing the architectural model of the new Shangri-La Larry plans to build, complete with shopping mall, food court, and roller-coasters.
Perhaps the strongest statement of the film comes as the credits roll: a montage of video featuring the demolition of four legendary old-school casinos--the Aladdin, the Landmark, the Dunes, and the Sands, which, of course, was the Vegas home of Sinatra and the Rat Pack. It's a haunting lament at the end of a surprisingly fine film.
The plot itself hinges on an old, all but forgotten Vegas tradition: William H. Macy is Bernie, a professional 'cooler'--a guy whose luck is so bad it's contagious, and who is paid to sidle up to any table where a gambler is on a run of luck and cool the action with his mere presence. The film's opening scene has an almost surreal quality, as hang-dog Bernie paces the floor, magically passing his bad luck with nothing more than a subtle touch of green felt or brass.
Bernie works at the Golden Shangri-La, a bastion of Vegas traditionalism managed by Shelley Kaplow (Alec Baldwin), who runs his casino with religious fidelity to the old ways, idealizing the Rat Pack-era Vegas, the days before Sin City became, in Shelley's words, a "Disneyland mookfest."
But Shelley is under pressure: longtime club headliner Buddy Stafford (Paul Sorvino) is way past his prime and carries a dark secret. The casino's investors have grown reluctant to hold on to the old ways at the expense of the record-breaking revenues being brought in by the newer, flashier, family-friendly casinos, and Shelley finds himself in a power struggle with Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston), a Harvard-educated wunderkind brought in to revitalize the struggling Shangri-La.
Last but not least of Shelley's troubles is that Bernie the Cooler has announced his intention to leave town. Shelley has owned Bernie for years (Bernie's crippled shuffle is a souvenir from his days of gambling addiction administered by Shelley for non-payment of a massive debt), but Bernie is now in the clear and wants to put Vegas behind him.
But Bernie finds himself reconsidering after he falls into bed with Natalie (Maria Bello), a failed showgirl-turned-cocktail waitress who propositions Bernie after he notices her being groped by a gambler on a hot streak and promptly cools the offending customer's luck. Unfortunately, Bernie's first dose of good luck in ages comes with a particular liability: having unexpectedly found happiness, Bernie finds his talent for passing on bad luck has reversed itself--to the chagrin of Shelley Kaplow.
William H. Macy has long been respected has a character actor, and it's a treat to see him bring his talents to a rare lead role for a middle-aged actor of average appearance. His Bernie is truly pathetic, and yet his charm and growing confidence make his affair with Natalie believable and inspiring. Bernie is a loser, but he has courage and character, especially when confronted with his failure as a father when his dead-beat hustler son (Shawn Hatosy) appears with a pregnant, coke-snorting girlfriend (Estella Warren) in tow.
Maria Bello gives an astonishing, award-worthy performance as Natalie. It's just a mystery to me that she is not a major star. She is stunningly beautiful but also persuasively real, and her moments of honesty and vulnerability in this film stick with you. Natalie is not without considerable flaws, but her love for Bernie is absolutely believable, and I found myself feeling deeply invested in them.
Much of the small buzz around this film was generated by Macy and Bello's sex scenes, which are genuinely remarkable--visceral and explicit without seeming the least bit pornographic or gratuitous. This is attributable to the investment of the actors in their characters and their craft. The ardor feels totally genuine. Bello and Macy look not like actors playing roles, but like two people in love, going at it like they're never going to get another chance.
But inasmuch as Bernie and Natalie are the clear hero and heroine, in certain respects, the film belongs to Alec Baldwin's Shelley. Baldwin hasn't had such a plum role in ages: Shelley is both a malicious sociopath and a tender, affectionate father figure. His loyalty to the old-school ways and his refusal to accept that Sinatra's Vegas is gone forever is genuinely tragic. Baldwin owns some of the film's finest moments: a rip-roaring tirade against the crassly commercialized Vegas embodied by his younger rival; a surprisingly tender moment with the aging crooner Buddy Stafford, where Shelley appears in Buddy's dressing room and tries to stroke the singer's flagging ego by presenting him a pair of panties he claims to have found hanging on the door-handle outside, only to have the harrowingly tragic Buddy point out that he knows Shelley bought the panties in the casino's lingerie shop, along with the services of the 'groupie' who'll be arriving shortly after Shelley leaves; a drunken catharsis after a confrontation with Bernie over Natalie that ends with Shelley smashing the architectural model of the new Shangri-La Larry plans to build, complete with shopping mall, food court, and roller-coasters.
Perhaps the strongest statement of the film comes as the credits roll: a montage of video featuring the demolition of four legendary old-school casinos--the Aladdin, the Landmark, the Dunes, and the Sands, which, of course, was the Vegas home of Sinatra and the Rat Pack. It's a haunting lament at the end of a surprisingly fine film.