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The Cooler
William H. Macy stars as Bernie Lootz. He is the type of person that with his presence alone, brings bad luck to casino patrons. He does this for casino mogul Shelly Kaplow (played by Alec Baldwin) to minimize patron’s losses and thereby maximizing the casino’s winnings. But Bernie’s bad luck charm starts to turn when a certain cocktail waitress (Maria Bello) comes into his life. Shelly, on the other hand, is trying so hard to run and save his casino using the old Vegas mentality by refusing to turn the Shangri-La casino into a family oriented destination. His values start to clash with some of the casino’s investors.
It was hard to find a genre for Wayne Kramer’s The Cooler. But I believe that when everything is said and done, the romantic comedy would nicely fit it. I am also not quite sure if the version of the film I saw at a recent film festival is the NC-17 or rated R. There is a full frontal shot of one actor and another that is close to being one of another actor.
The Cooler will definitely get notices for the acting turns of its three main leads. Macy, Bello and Baldwin are all good. While its story is not as hard hitting as Leaving Las Vegas, it still delights. Just don’t go in with very high expectations.
~Edwin
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