With A Little Luck, This One’s A Winner

The Cooler (2006) – Bernie Lootz is not the man you want to stand next to you in a casino. Bernie is a man shaped jinx. Any luck you had at the table disappears. That makes him precious to the casino that employs him. When a pretty waitress comes into Bernie’s life, things will change. Not everyone will be happy about the new arrangement.

Directed by Wayne Kramer

Starring William H. Macy, Maria Bello, Alec Baldwin

Why I Liked It – A great cast and some old school Vegas heat.

Gamblers are superstitious. I’d rank them at the top of the list with actors and athletes. So, I wasn’t surprised to find that casinos have superstitions of their own. A “cooler” is a staff member who the bosses believe will cool a gambler’s hot streak just by their presence. They stand by the gambler in question, or place a bet just like the gamblers, or maybe just touch the table. And a hot hand goes ice cold. Does it actually work? Who knows? It only has to work often enough to make people believe.

William H. Macy (a solid member of my personal “I’ll Watch Anything This Actor Is In” list) brings us Bernie Lootz, a sad sack character in an ill-fitting suit with the gift of bad luck. Bernie is the cooler for his long-time grifting partner Shelly Kaplow (Baldwin) at the Shangri-La Hotel and Casino. Shelly yearns for the old days in Las Vegas and runs his casino that way. Bernie has been stuck there, but the end of his tenure is just a week away. When Natalie Belisario (Bello), a casino waitress, comes into Bernie’s life, he discovers that she’s his “lady luck”. Which makes things spin out of control for all three of them.

While there is a fine supporting cast here, this is Macy, Bello and Baldwin’s movie. Everything revolves around the man who had been the center of Bernie’s world and the woman who takes that place. Macy is brilliant at these lovable loser type roles. Lootz is not a perfect angel. His past includes conning old people out of their retirement funds. Bernie’s good heart, which needs nurturing, compensates for any moral or intellectual shortfalls (and Bernie is not overly bright). Bello brings her amazing combination of everyday beauty and amazing sex appeal to Natalie. Every day is a struggle, she’s never gotten a break, and she falls in love with walking bad luck. But Natalie sees the good in Bernie and helps that stunted part of his personality grow. Meanwhile, Baldwin’s Shelly is a violent thug in a suit. He revels in being the old school casino boss who maintains the traditions of “Old Vegas” against the glitz of the Strip. The Shangri-La is his perfect refuge from a world he hates. The question for Shelly is whether Bernie is anything more than a useful tool.

The movie is listed as a romantic comedy. Be aware before you watch, there is plenty of blue language, several instances of serious nudity and equally serious violence. But it’s worth it in the end (which has a “what the hell just happened” aspect)

This was director Wayne Kramer’s directorial debut on the big screen. He pulls this off beautifully, working a screenplay that has serious twists a couple times into an engaging story. The movie picked up a bunch of festival award nominations, and earned Alex Baldwin his only Oscar nomination.

You can stream “The Cooler” on Tubi, Pluto, Amazon Prime, YouTube, Apple, Google Play, and Fandango.

Rating – **** Recommended

FYI – This is one of the worst trailers I’ve seen in years. It feels like something from the ’50s. Trust me, the movie is much better than this.