Starring: William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello, Paul Sorvino, Ron Livingston, Joey Fatone
Directed by: Wayne Kramer
Written by: Frank Hannah, Wayne Kramer
Release date: January 17, 2003
MPAA rating: R for strong sexuality, violence, language, and some drug use.
Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is the unluckiest guy in the world. He’s so unlucky that he’s made being unlucky his job. He works as a cooler for the Golden Shangri-La casino, owned by his old friend Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin). What is a cooler, you may ask? A cooler is someone whom the casino hires to “cool down” a table when a player is winning too often. The casino has to make money, right? Since Bernie is so unlucky, all he has to do is walk over to the winner at a table, sit down next to him, and the winner automatically stops winning. However, once Bernie meets Natalie (Maria Bello), all bets are off.
If you haven’t seen “The Cooler” yet, you may know it from all of the praise that Alec Baldwin garnered for his role as the casino owner. This praise is well-deserved. Alec Baldwin is known for playing a good bad guy. He even played the bad guy in “Spongebob Squarepants: the Movie”. His bad guy in “The Cooler” is one of the best. He’s swaggering, self-obsessed, Scrooge-like, sallow-hearted and so deeply seedy, there’s just nothing redeeming about him. Billed as a minor character, Baldwin leads the already incredible cast. Every performance in this movie is top notch.
Which leads me to William H. Macy and Maria Bello. Bernie and Natalie. This is truly the odd couple. Bernie is a middle aged, not very attractive, definitely not the most positive of thinkers, really doesn’t have much going for him, guy. It’s hard to believe that any woman would fall for him (other than the fact that it’s William H. Macy and “Road Hogs” aside, he’s just a badass). Maria Bello is a beautiful cocktail waitress. You can see some depth to her eyes that suggests a painful past, but this only adds to her beauty. Despite their differences in the looks department, the two of them develop such a deep and caring relationship. One of the sweetest in recent film memory.
As a warning for film audiences, if you’re put off by nudity and violence, you may want to skip this one. I was surprised at the amount of nudity in this film. Not necessarily that it’s a bad thing, I just wasn’t expecting to see this much of William H. Macy. It was a shock at first, but then it became just really cool. Cool that he’s so comfortable in his own skin. It was very refreshing to see someone who doesn’t look like a model get naked. Especially a man.
The story line in the movie got lost for me. When the credits began to roll, I was more concerned about the characters than what the plot of the story was. I wanted to know more about them. I wanted to see where they would end up, what would happen to them. Now that’s the mark of a really good movie. You want more.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is the unluckiest guy in the world. He’s so unlucky that he’s made being unlucky his job. He works as a cooler for the Golden Shangri-La casino, owned by his old friend Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin). What is a cooler, you may ask? A cooler is someone whom the casino hires to “cool down” a table when a player is winning too often. The casino has to make money, right? Since Bernie is so unlucky, all he has to do is walk over to the winner at a table, sit down next to him, and the winner automatically stops winning. However, once Bernie meets Natalie (Maria Bello), all bets are off.
If you haven’t seen “The Cooler” yet, you may know it from all of the praise that Alec Baldwin garnered for his role as the casino owner. This praise is well-deserved. Alec Baldwin is known for playing a good bad guy. He even played the bad guy in “Spongebob Squarepants: the Movie”. His bad guy in “The Cooler” is one of the best. He’s swaggering, self-obsessed, Scrooge-like, sallow-hearted and so deeply seedy, there’s just nothing redeeming about him. Billed as a minor character, Baldwin leads the already incredible cast. Every performance in this movie is top notch.
Which leads me to William H. Macy and Maria Bello. Bernie and Natalie. This is truly the odd couple. Bernie is a middle aged, not very attractive, definitely not the most positive of thinkers, really doesn’t have much going for him, guy. It’s hard to believe that any woman would fall for him (other than the fact that it’s William H. Macy and “Road Hogs” aside, he’s just a badass). Maria Bello is a beautiful cocktail waitress. You can see some depth to her eyes that suggests a painful past, but this only adds to her beauty. Despite their differences in the looks department, the two of them develop such a deep and caring relationship. One of the sweetest in recent film memory.
As a warning for film audiences, if you’re put off by nudity and violence, you may want to skip this one. I was surprised at the amount of nudity in this film. Not necessarily that it’s a bad thing, I just wasn’t expecting to see this much of William H. Macy. It was a shock at first, but then it became just really cool. Cool that he’s so comfortable in his own skin. It was very refreshing to see someone who doesn’t look like a model get naked. Especially a man.
The story line in the movie got lost for me. When the credits began to roll, I was more concerned about the characters than what the plot of the story was. I wanted to know more about them. I wanted to see where they would end up, what would happen to them. Now that’s the mark of a really good movie. You want more.
3.5 out of 5 stars
Jenny Rushing
2 comments:
I have been wanting to see this one for a while. I haven't seen Wild Hogs yet, so I can still say that I haven't seen Macy in a bad movie yet, lol.
OMG Mitch. Wild Hogs disgraces Macy. I had to turn it off after 20 minutes or so. He's so much better than that movie. Hell, all of the actors in that movie are better than that movie.
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