Blucher One of the worst movies I've ever seen

Pacionsbo Absolutely Fantastic

Lollivan It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Bob This is one of the best movies I’ve seen in a very long time. You have to go and see this on the big screen.

tomsview Everything I know about gambling in casinos comes from watching movies. Maybe it put me off the real thing because if the movies are to be believed, nobody seems to be having much fun and you can consider yourself lucky if you get away with just a broken hand.Of all the gambling movies, the characters in "The Cooler" seem to be having the least fun of all. The whole thing is depressing enough to make you want to call the Gambling Helpline.Bernie Lootz (William H Macy) plays a cooler, a person who is hired to bring bad luck to gamblers at the Shrangri La Casino - even his name suggests loose. Alec Baldwin plays Shelly Kaplow, the near psychotic manager of the casino who doesn't realise his old-school management style is coming to an end.We learn that Bernie and Shelly have had a lot of history together, but now Bernie wants to break the bond. As Bernie becomes involved with Natalie Bellasario (Maria Bello) a cocktail waitress at the casino, his status as a cooler begins to change. When Bernie's low-life son appears on the scene it sets in train events that lead to an unexpected ending.William Macy brings that familiar world-weary persona to the part; he tends to speak with a Mamet-like cadence in all his movies and his unusual style marks him as one of the most unique actors around. Alec Baldwin can play angry with the best of them and in "The Cooler" he gives his character a bipolar personality that puts you on edge waiting for his next manic burst of violence.Maria Bello's warm, understated style is the perfect balance to the supercharged performances of Macy and Baldwin. Were those nude scenes essential to the plot? They never are, but they do provide a break from all the gloom.Scorsese's "Casino" is the primer for understanding what happens in "The Cooler" especially the dealings between Shelley and the owners of the casino represented by Nicky 'Fingers' Bonnatto (played by Ed Harris lookalike, Arthur J. Nascarella)."The Cooler" is not as mesmerising as the "The Gambler" with James Caan, but I would rate it ahead of other trips to the casino such as "Croupier" or "Hard Eight".

deemo31 This movie is sort of like a train wreck. You have to watch it but you really don't want to. The acting is far from wonderful. Macy is just not believable in this part. Bello is beautiful and probably does the best acting job, but the character just isn't believable either. Baldwin plays all the cliché's you could think of as the Casino manager. In fact the entire movie is one big cliché on the Vegas experience.BUT...I really like the movie. I've actually watched it several times. So, in spite of Macy's pasty butt, Baldwin's terrible attempt at a gangster accent and Maria Bello's character's improbable attraction to Macy's, the story is entertaining enough to make the movie worth watching. Oh, and Ellen Green's cameo role as the coffee waitress is a hoot. Not a "must see" movie, but one I think you can enjoy on an otherwise slow night.

pontifikator William H. Macy plays Bernie Loots, a total loser whose bad luck rubs off on the gamblers at the Shangri La casino on Las Vegas. His boss is Shelly Kaplow, played by Alec Baldwin. Although Bernie gets a love interest (Natalie played by Maria Bello), at its heart "The Cooler" is a story about Bernie and Shelly.The gist of the movie is that Shelly runs the Shangri La in the old school way. If gambler can't pay up when he loses, Shelly pulls out the old school baseball bat and works out an arrangement. Shelly has the aging Buddy Stafford (Paul Sorvino) in the lounge nightly where Buddy pulls in several aging matrons for each performance. Well, maybe not that many. But Shelly keeps him on because Buddy is old school Vegas, a fixture for decades back in the day when Vegas had glamour. Sometimes I felt like the point about Shelly being old school was being driven home with a baseball bat, but apparently we needed the lesson.Macy does sadsack characters better than anyone, and Bernie is a sadsack with no hope. We see him wandering with his limp through the casino ("Bernie, party of 6, your table is ready" means someone is winning at table six) to stand beside someone on a roll, and they immediately crap out. He's called the cooler because whenever someone is on a hot streak, they send Bernie in and Bernie cools it. But he's a loser in all his life: When he orders a coffee, they just ran out of cream ("that's alright," he says softly. "It doesn't matter.") His cat left him. He lives alone in a single room occupancy motel.The plot kicks off when Bernie tells Shelly Bernie's leaving town; he can't stand it anymore. Bernie owed Shelly some money, and he's just worked it off, so he's bailing on the Shangri La. I won't give the plot away, but Shelly wants Bernie to stay, so he offers some benefits to keep Bernie around to make gamblers lose. The movie goes off on its own roll, with plot twists, changes, and updates to the Shangri La. Baldwin and Macy own the movie. Their acting is wonderful, and each character is totally believable. Shelly is a brutal mafia boss in Shangri La who stops at nothing. Nobody cheats him, no cash is left on the table when he does a deal, no prostitutes work in his casino without his okay and his cut -- he has his fingers in everything. And he willingly breaks fingers when people try to mess with his casino. Baldwin turns in a powerful performance. The plot is the classic boy meets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl, but Bernie and Shelly also meet, lose each other, and get each other back as friends. Bernie and Natalie work very well together (despite the 17-year age gap that Hollywood always plugs in). Their characters develop quite nicely, and their fall into love is very well done. It's a sweet story about two people who don't con each other in a town that's nothing but a con. Bernie and Natalie have a love story that brings Bernie out of his loser status and makes him unreliable as a cooler. When they fall in love, Bernie stands next to winners, and they win even bigger. Lady luck smiles on Bernie and everyone near him. The movie was originally rated NC-17 because of scenes between Bernie and Natalie showing their lovemaking. Macy made a personal appeal to the board and there was some re-editing to get the rating to R, but the scenes are still remarkable for their honesty. The violence and language appear not to have had a bearing on the NC-17 rating. I've seen "This Film Is not yet Rated," a documentary about the American rating process and its flaws. The documentary has a section on the rating tribulations of "The Cooler," and it shows some deleted scenes. I recommend seeing "This Film Is not yet Rated" for background on the screwed up American rating system.The interior shots were filmed in The Golden Phoenix, a Reno casino that was being renovated. In some irony or other, the casino was built as the Primadonna, then it became Del Webb's Sahara Reno Hotel, then it became the Flamingo Hilton Reno, before it was The Golden Phoenix. The building currently is the Montage, a condo, although the economy in Reno took a dive, and development is on hold, along with almost all the other highrise condos in the downtown area. Most of the exterior shots were also filmed in Reno, and those familiar with the town will recognize The Silver Legacy, The Town House Motor Lodge, the Nugget, and other locales.SPOILER If you haven't seen the movie, don't read here.Deus ex machina is a Latin phrase that refers to ancient Greek dramas. Sometimes the hero got himself into a bind that mere mortals couldn't resolve, so the crew lowered an actor in a basket, coming down from the heavens as it were - a god from a machine. The actor portrayed the appropriate god that could solve the hero's problems. This has long been considered bad writing. Some directors have played with the concept; in "Donnie Darko" Richard Kelly uses the concept directly - the bullies beating Donnie up are scared away by a guy pulling up in a car. Donnie says the phrase deus ex machina to describe the situation, and it literally is a god in a car.Here in "The Cooler," our director uses deus ex machina to save our hero and heroine in the end in a great parody of the device by having the couple saved by a drunk driver. It works here because Bernie's luck has totally changed, and Lady Luck is smiling on the couple. It's a great way to end the movie.

Jackson Booth-Millard The title suggested something to do with prison or something to me, but I definitely knew who the leading star of the film was, and that was good enough for me to decide to watch it. Basically Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is the unluckiest schmuck in Las Vegas, his bad luck is contagious and spreads to anyone he around playing in casinos. Ruthless casino manager Shelly Kaplow (Oscar and Golden Globe nominated Alec Baldwin) uses to this to his advantage by hiring Bernie as "the cooler", to hang around high rollers and make sure they lose to make a good profit. This run of bad luck spreading to others is due to change though when Bernie meets cocktail waitress Natalie Belisario (A History of Violence's Golden Globe nominated Maria Bello), and the two of them get very close. As their love becomes stronger, suddenly Bernie's luck has turned, and instead of his contagious bad luck being spread, more people are becoming winners in the casino, Natalie is obviously "lady luck". Shelley of course isn't happy with this, and he takes drastic action to try and keep the two apart so the good luck doesn't continue in his establishment, but Bernie isn't going to let go the one thing he truly loves. So after quitting as "the cooler", Bernie decides after seeing Natalie's injured face and finding out some truths, to take advantage of his newfound good luck in Shelley's casino. At first Shelley becomes the new "cooler" making Bernie lose some big bucks, but then he takes the big gamble that could ultimately bring down Shelley and his business, and he is successful. Bernie and Natalie drive off with a big fortune to take them all the way, and after a quick run of bad luck involving a gun threatening Highway Officer (Lost's M.C. Gainey), they drive away happily ever after. Also starring Shawn Hatosy as Mikey, Band of Brothers' Ron Livingston as Larry Sokolov, Dick Tracy's Paul Sorvino as Buddy Stafford, Kangaroo Jack's Estella Warren as Charlene, Arthur J. Nascarella as Nicky 'Fingers' Bonnatto and Ellen Greene as Doris. Macy is fantastic as the loser finding true love and his luck change for the greater good, Bello is really good as his luck bringing love interest, and Baldwin is great as the greedy and easily angered boss. This film obviously isn't a film made for a lot of money, and it has a simple story, but that is what makes it a believable and splendid romantic drama. Very good!