Jason C
Reviewer

      “The Cooler” begins with the odds against it. Despite a powerful cast, the idea of a loser making his way through Las Vegas has been done a thousand times before. There’s the angry pit boss refusing to lose money, the hooker with a heart of gold and the lovable loser everyone starts to root for. Yet “The Cooler” beats the spread and comes out a winner by taking the normal Vegas clichés and immersing them into a black comedy that will make even the biggest Vegas-hater smile.
 
      In Wayne Kramer’s smart and funny “The Cooler”, character actor William H. Macy plays Bernie Lootz, the unluckiest man in Las Vegas. From a failed marriage and estranged child to the green blackjack tables at an old casino, everything he touches turns bad … until he begins touching Maria Bello during an awkward sex scene.
 
      “The Cooler” breathes life into the Las Vegas genre, which recently stumbled with the awful Kevin Costner film “3000 Miles to Graceland”. That film featured more than 100 Elvis impersonators. This film features none, which is truer to the real Vegas. From the aerial shots of the neon glow to the narrow back casino rooms punctuated by blood spots on the floor, this film presents Vegas with brutal honesty.
 
      Shangri-La manager Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) balks at any attempt to change his nostalgic casino. Shelly makes a hefty profit but his casino can no longer compete with the thematic abominations of the new Vegas. Despite new ideas to turn the old casino into a modern marvel, Shelly refuses to change. When players cheat, he doesn’t report them; instead, he breaks their legs or kills them. When players are doing well, he sends in Bernie, who literally cools down the big winners by simply standing next to them.
 
      Kramer could not have asked for a more talented cast. While Macy was brilliant as a fast-talking racehorse expert in the critically acclaimed “Seabiscuit”, here he proves he can bring bittersweet irony and depth to the most downtrodden man in existence. Baldwin, on the other hand, proves he can still act despite miserable comedic attempts in such films as “The Cat in the Hat”.
 
      Completing the trio of masterful performances is Maria Bello as a cocktail waitress who seems down on her luck until she meets the unlucky Bernie. She rewards his kindness with some realistically staged sex scenes that seem over the top and natural at the same time. In one of the film’s most memorable scenes, the pair loudly fakes orgasms to irritate the man next door at their seedy motel in order to avenge his sexual exploits from earlier in the week. Despite the nudity and orgasmic screams, each sex scene remains realistic and hinges more on funny and true than seductive.
 
      Unlike recent Vegas efforts, “The Cooler” isn’t just about sex and stacks of poker chips. Told through a yellowed, smoky lens that gives the film a feel of Rat Pack nostalgia, “The Cooler” uses its funny script and intelligent direction to highlight the three impressive performances. If viewers can take a leap of faith to believe in the powers of a cooler, they will be paid back in full with this enjoyable film.