Review of The Cooler (2003) by Eric T — 07 Jul 2010

When you see a movie with Maria Bello in it you should know that you will be seeing three things on the screen: full frontal nudity, rough sex, and a helluva performance.

I'm so happy that this movie did not disappoint me. I first heard of this movie seven years ago when Maria Bello was promoting it on the Today show. Like everyone else that is reading this review, I also knew about the movie because of the aforementioned nudity and sex scenes. If you're going to see the movie for those reasons, you'll be pleasantly surprised that it's a really good movie too.

Getting back on track, Bello was deservedly nominated for a Golden Globe for her role in the film. The Cooler seemed like an interesting movie back in the day, but I didn't get to see the film until now.

As a big fan of Vegas (Vegas, baby, Vegas) culture, I really dug this movie. It's a very ironic movie that depicts a life long loser (William H. Macy) who is a cooler at a casino. Is it just me, or does Bill Macy always play losers? Also, I wonder if his wife calls him "William H.Macy." the same goes for David E. Kelly and Samuel L. Jackson.

So a cooler is a person with bad luck that tries to bring bad luck to people winning too much money at casinos. It's a pretty cool concept. Alec Baldwin, in an Oscar nominated role that is also one of my top two favorite movie roles with him in it along with Glengarry Glen Ross, steals the show as the owner of the casino Macy's character works at.

Macy is a loser and he wants to get out of Vegas. However, as crazy as it sounds, Macy's character is Baldwin's good luck charm and Baldwin does not want to lose him. Maria Bello finds her way into the film as a cocktail (that word makes me laugh after watching the movie Lenny. The review for that movie will follow this one) waitress that gets close to Macy.

After that, the plot unfolds in a fashion that reveals the true colors of Las Vegas. We might have seen some of the stuff in this movie before, but it was all done really well. The screenplay was smooth and it was funny and got me involved.

The direction was flashy, stylish, and creative while also keeping the story going along. The acting couldn't have been better. If Tim Robbins hadn't been nominated that year for his great turn in Mystic River, Alec Baldwin would be referred to as, "Academy Award winner Alec Baldwin." His character is a charismatic, funny, violent, and intimidating son of a bitch that you always want on your side. He is a complicated character that I thought ended up being the heart of the movie.

While the plot of this movie was really cool, I also enjoyed the fact this movie encouraged the idea of being true to one's self. The Cooler is an awesome movie.