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Sometime I see a trailer for a move and think to myself, “well, that’s one film I don’t need to see.” Luckily I don’t always go by trailers and actually see a movie that shows absolutely no promise on the basis of the preview. I say it’s luck because things are not always what they seem and The Cooler is an infinitely better film that the trailer would have you believe.
Alec Baldwin received an academy award nomination for his performance and despite all the talk about William H. Macy; there is no doubt, this is Baldwin’s film all the way…
The basic plot is a simple one. Macy plays Bernie Lootz, a guy with the word ‘loser’ flashing in neon above his head. His luck is so bad it’s overflowing and he is employed by a casino as ‘the cooler’; someone who cools things off when a gambler is on a hot streak at a table. How? Just by being around, spreading an air of doom and gloom that seems infectious. But Bernie is a not a happy camper and has given notice to his boss, Shelly (played by Baldwin) that he plans on leaving Las Vegas. As if Shelly doesn’t have enough problems, his boss shows up with some young stud out of business school with plans to revitalize the casino which seems stuck in some 1960’s time warp under the management of Shelly. Enter Natalie, played by Maria Bello, a waitress at the casino whose luck seems little better than Bernie’s. The two hook up and love transforms Bernie from a loser to Mr. Lucky Charms.
OK, those are the basics, and I won’t give a way more than that, but I will tell you this, even though you don’t need to be a psychic to figure out how this all is gonna end it’s carried along so well by the performance of all the actors and in particular Alec Baldwin, that it remains a thoroughly entertaining film to watch. There’s a terrific soundtrack and lots of Vegas glitz with just enough tough guy gangster stuff to give you the feeling there’s more to this film than what appears on the surface. But you don’t need to strain your brain as the metaphor is spelt out for you in a touching scene played between Baldwin and Paul Sorvino; who also give a great performance as Buddy Stafford, a has-been lounge act.
denise (89 posts)Loves the big screen experience of sitting in a dark room with about a hundred strangers all getting sucked into the fantasy realm beyond the silver screen.
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3 Comments
saw this one some weeks ago… This definitely is not a Baldwin movie to my humble opinion. He is good - no doubt - but I rather would have seen Macy to get a nomination. But the problem is he would have had to be nominated in the Lead Actor category and he could not have been beaten by all the big names in that category.
Comment by arjan — Sat June 5, 2004 @ 16:05One of the flaws of this movie is that once you have found out the nature of the relations the movie kinda starts dragging and gets a bit predictable…
The dragging is there and it weakens the film. What’s left is still a very well done film. I was a bit uncomfortable with some violent scenes. Major plus we’re the almost tongue-in-cheek absurdistic overdone scenes. At least, I think they we’re meant to be interpreted that way. Regardless … very nice. Baldwin and Macy … a tag-team performance.
Comment by reisneus — Thu June 10, 2004 @ 10:43Macy, like Philip Seymour Hoffman, never ceases to impress me…
Comment by arjan — Thu June 10, 2004 @ 12:19