The Cooler
The Cooler is an old-school Vegas fable of an irascible loser named Bernie Lootz. As ‘the cooler’ of the aging Shangri-La Casino, Bernie’s mere presence at a table is enough to send people into major fits of losing. The Shangri-La isn’t on the strip, rather it’s stuck in the deep of downtown, where the sweat and smells of old Vegas lingers and holdouts like casino manager Shelly (Alec Baldwin) likes to handle business in the old way – with superstition and a strong mob-like hand. His relationship with Bernie is a strained one, as the two have a past that makes their current business relationship a bit, uh, complicated.
Bernie does a fine job at cooling the tables – that is until he meets Natalie (Maria Bello) a waitress that quickly shows Bernie the ways of love and turns him from a loser to a lover almost instantly. The cooler gets warm; warm by the power of love. This shakeup of tradition and superstition proves to have a dominio effect throughout the Shangri-La.
The Cooler is a great mix of old-Vegas movie and a film with an independent spirit. Not to mention that the cast is filled out with some truly amazing actors, including the never-bad William H. Macy. Yes, Macy is playing another loser (a typecasting he admits that he’s trying to move away from) — but the fact is, he does it so great that you can’t help but feel for all the characters that he plays, no matter how flawed. Alec Baldwin is the real revelation, though. He’s back to his old self. Like Glengarry self. Shelly is a flawed man who lets anger and the stubbornness of his ways overwhelm him. Oh, and the girl. There always has to be a femme fatale in a movie like this
Maria Bello is amazingly seductive and vulnerable in this role. She did things with her pants that was enough to send me into an epileptic fit. God bless you Maria Bello. Not only does the relationship between her and Macy’s character make complete sense in a very hapless way, the sex between the two is natural and quite explicit. It’s a nice (albeit slightly uncomfortable) change from the soft music soft focus shit that is so pervasive in movies right now.
There are wonderful bits of revelation and character development in The Cooler that keep you both guessing and completely surprised. Now, if I only understood how to play craps, maybe this would make more sense to me.
Movie Grade: A
Video: 4 out of 5
A very nice, primary looking color palette. There’s a lot of color cast (greens, blues) over the characters, but worry not – it’s a stylistic choice rather than a flaw in the image.
Widescreen Anamorphic – 1.85:1
Audio: 4 out of 5
Surprisingly enough, the audio on this disc is very, very strong. This is something that’s a bit of an anomaly for smaller independent films. Mostly, it’s due to the great, jazz-swing vegas music that fills the channels perfectly. As an added bonus, this great music is available on its own 5.1 without dialogue or sound effects, which makes for a rather enjoyable and unusual listening experience.
English (Dolby 5.1), English (Dolby 2.0), English: Musical Score (Dolby 5.1),
Extras: 4 out of 5
The great “Anatomy of a Scene” from the Sundance channel is here, which in a half-hour does more than most discs do with twice that time. Always glad to have this on a disc. There are two commentaries, but none with Macy, who I always like to hear more from. The first is with the director, co-writer and cinematographer, who give a rather technical, but fairly good commentary. The second is with the director and musical composer who speak of influences and talk music shop. Again, two solid extras, but nothing that breaks the bank. I really enjoyed the aforementioned music-only track – a really interesting way to watch the movie. Finally there are two very short storyboard comparison sections which prove just how well this movie was planned out beforehand.
Overall: 4.5 out of 5
The Cooler is a great movie for anyone that’s a fan of those films with an independent spirit or even those old mob and casino pics. Macy is great, Bello is sexy and Baldwin is gruff — highly recommended.
Year: 2003
Written and Directed: Wayne Kramer
Starring: William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello, and Ron Livingston
Details: 101 min / Lions Gate / Rated R