HondaReport.com - Film Review: 'The Cooler' gets hot and stays hot thanks to Macy, Bello

Hawaii International Film Festival—William Macy best serves his craft—and those of us who enjoy his work—in primary roles. From Fargo on, the versatile talent has shown that America doesn’t look at movie leads with a tunnel vision of stereotypes. In The Cooler, Macy uses ingredients from his vast supply of skills to immerse us with a complicated, but noble man with a loser complex.

HondaReport.com Movie Review
Title: The Cooler
Pupule’s Rating: * * * ½ stars

The more we get to know Bernie Lootz and his equally down-on-her-luck pal (played by Maria Bello), the more predictable The Cooler becomes.

Bernie torments himself with guilt and frustration over his life. He looks for good in the midst of trouble. Natalie (Bello) pushes Bernie to look for hope. And Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin), owner of Shangri-La Casino, is hell-bent on keeping all his deviant methods of maintaining control status quo.

But an unusual thing happens in spite of this. Director Wayne Kramer, at the most timely moments, reminds us that at its root, The Cooler is a comedy. Kramer uses violence and humor at amazingly precise moments, and just when The Cooler appears bent on taking itself too seriously, Kramer and co-screenwriter Frank Hannah bounce an idea straight from funnyville to the big screen.

Comedy fans, be warned: This is not the general ha-ha fare you may expect from a film featuring Alec Baldwin (as Shelly). Drama fans, be warned: There is enough comedy in this flick to diffuse your level of intensity. Macy, Baldwin and Bello engage in a three-way chemistry that is alluring and unsettling, and it creates a story that kept me glued good.

The Hype: Macy is simply one of the best character actors of our time, and he handles roles with well-measured shades of remorse and humor. Could he carry yet another film? Baldwin gets an opportunity to play a “bad guy,” but would it be convincing? And Bello, whose credits include Coyote Ugly, gets a chance to show what she’s capable of with a gritty, sometimes goofy character. This film had more to lose, it may have seemed, just on name recognition alone.

Strengths: Kramer wisely allowed the friendship between Bernie and Natalie to stumble and waddle before allowing it to ignite. That created the foundation of this film. Yes, Bernie owes Shelly big. Yes, Bernie is constricted by his “self-fulfilling prophecy” of being a loser, as Natalie observes. But with Natalie to pull him up every time Bernie falls down, Macy allows us into the train of thought and emotional tug-of-war brewing within. It’s a remarkable thing to watch.

Equally interesting is Bello as a worn-out waitress who follows Shelly’s orders to keep Bernie, a “cooler,” in line. As Bernie’s “skill” as a cooler—someone who wanders from table to table and brings bad luck to high and hot rollers—begins to wane, Shelly figures it out. Bernie is at his best when his life is miserable, and Natalie is bringing him nothing but joy. This makes for an intriguing plot that could have been a bust. Kramer and Hannah find a way to make it work, and much of the credit goes to Bello, who shows us that an age gap is not necessarily a minus when two people fall in love. I absolutely bought this relationship on a deep-rooted level, and that’s a rarity, re: Lost in Translation.

Baldwin gets a fine window to jump out of with his portrayal of Shelly, an old-school casino boss who fumes and spews poetic vomit when a new suit shows up with plans to tear down the Shangri-La and rebuild it as another cookie-cutter resort. “Nostalgia belongs in a museum,” Shelly is told point-blank. Shelly has some characteristics that Americans tend to love—determined, uncompromising and a stickler for doing what works, not what looks flashy. But his warped perspective of life carries a distinct odor of mayhem, and what served him well in the past may not serve him so well in the near future.

Weaknesses: While I found this to be a well-crafted work of art, the humor that saves it is also what leaves a slightly tacky feel. That’s about all I can say about The Cooler that isn’t pure 4-star material.

Best Scene: I’ll avoid mentioning any significant scenes, but I will say this: When Shelly goes after Bernie’s hustler son and the son’s girlfriend, it’s purely history repeating itself. Bernie, who staved off death—he owed Shelly 150k—by allowing Shelly to break his leg, which leaves Bernie with a limp. The same is about to happen to Shelly’s son midway through the film when he attempts to save the young man. In the midst of realizing that his son is a con artist and cheater, Shelly delivers the nastiest blow of violence this year—and that includes Kill Bill. You’ll have to see it to know what I mean.

A scene that is among the best in one of the smaller moments is a two-parter. Early in the film, as Kramer establishes Bernie’s small-time existence—he lives in Apt. 104 of a dingy two-story motel—the room next door is constantly at a high-decibel rate thanks to a prostitute and her wall-banging clientele. That in itself isn’t funny, but it sets up a scene that comes later, and it ranks with any comedic scene from the best guy-gets-the-girl pairings of all time.

Worst Scene: I’d hate to call this a horrible or bad scene, but as I said earlier, the same humor that saves this film and makes it almost great is the same material that leaves that tacky taste in my mouth. It happens in the final, climactic scene. Let’s just say that it is too ridiculous to believe, but in this film, it works.

Summary: Whether you enjoy gambling or have moralistic views on the dangers associated with that vice, this is a film that neither judges nor panders to the industry. Many key scenes are in the Shangri-La, but as the story unfolds—and there are many wonderfully sculpted moments between Bernie and Natalie that I purposefully omitted from this review—the backbone of this film isn’t so much Vegas as it is any place the couple goes. It’s not a heartwarmer for your Grandma to see, unless she’s as hard-core and tough as Bernie and Natalie. If that’s the case, rush Grandma to the theater to see this winning film about a loser. Lions Gate releases the film nationwide in December.

Discretionary notes: Not for children. Nudity, sex scenes, good amount of profanity and some violence.

I lub it 2.

Posted by: Styles at November 5, 2003 04:57 PM

Wow. How did you guys find this site?

Posted by: HRC Paul at January 24, 2004 09:29 AM