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The Cooler: A Different Kind of Cool
William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin make the latest Vegas flick flash.

Starring: William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello, Ron Livingston, Paul Sorvino, Shawn Hatosy, Estella Warren, Ellen Greene, Joey Fatone, Arthur J. Nascarella
Director: Wayne Kramer

Reviewed by Kevin Cunningham

The Pitch: An old school casino owner employs the ultimate unlucky charm to help keep his casino in the black, a "Cooler" who can make people lose just by hanging around. Everyone's world soon turns upside down as the casino operator finds himself pushed by newer, younger flash and the ultimate Cooler somehow begins to find a little bit of luck. IN OTHER WORDS: Owning Mahoney meets Casino.

William H. Macy has made a living out of playing the loser. He's just got that type of an everyman face, and adapts so well to the Charlie Brown-like "Why Me?" reaction to the things his characters get drawn into. From Boogie Nights to Magnolia, Mystery Men to Pleasantville, he's one of those guys you just always sympathize with, because he's never going to win. Well, in The Cooler, Macy turns that into a wonderful leading role.

Playing Bernie Lootz, he's the ultimate unlucky charm. All he has to do is stand next to someone, and luck leaves the room about as quick as the girls in his life have. He is, as the title implies, the cooler, one of those last remaining vestiges of superstition held onto by the old school of casino operators. The story, of course, is predictably about Lootz finding his luck (in a lady, of course), and the story of the loser finally winning is one of the most contrived and overused in movies. But that doesn't matter. It's Macy's ability to portray that loser, and that we're so used to seeing him be that person we all feel like once in a while, that lets the story hit us so well.

Of course, Macy isn't alone in this endeavor, and he's perfectly played off of by his costar Alec Baldwin, who plays that old-school casino operator. Quite frankly, this could be the best performance by a Baldwin, ever. Alec nails every nuance in the character, showing the dirty depths that an ex-mob guy can go to, even when it comes to his friends, and the incredible regard with which he holds honor and respect, even when it hurts him. As his superstitious and outdated character is pressured by the newer, younger Vegas operator (played by the ever underused Ron Livingstone) and the ownership to "modernize" his ways, Baldwin lays out what Vegas is at it's heart: a place where illegal men set up shop legally, where the dream of making money is only realized by the house. And if you did make money, well, you probably cheated.

There are many nice touches throughout this film. Unlike recent Vegas-set films, The Cooler is able to shoot the old downtown Vegas in the same level of glamour and romance that is usually only applied to the new Strip (such as in Ocean's Eleven). Paul Sorvino lays his Italian charm down doing a great cameo portrayal of an old guard lounge singer, only to be matched by his eventual replacement, former NSync-er Joey Fatone. And Maria Bello brings an even more charming attitude than she sported as the bar owner in Coyote Ugly. She plays the type of woman that's just fun to be with, always smiling and optimistic even in the face of the most pessimistic man on the planet. For those of you who haven't tuned in yet, that's what love is about: when a woman can get a man in any circumstance to smile. That's why the romantic angle in this film rings true. And the end credits are a genuinely nice touch, laid over footage of the original Vegas casinos being demolished; the dinosaurs gone for the glitz and glamour that is Vegas today.

Writer/Director Wayne Kramer, helming a film for the first time since '96, does a good job at balancing the roles and themes within the film. Although the babyfaces and heavies are rather obviously laid out, he never lets them reach the brightest of whites, or the darkest of blacks. Each character has staked out his or her own shade of grey. While the twists can be seen coming from a ways away, the honesty in the film holds true throughout, and keeps the film from becoming too predictable.

By the time the end of the film comes winding around, most will walk out of the theater feeling like there is actually hope. All of us feel, at one time or another, like Bernie Lootz. And even if it is just a movie, that hope that we can find a way to become winners is what Vegas is and was always about.

Rating: (3 out of 4 stars)

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