Review of The Cooler (2003) by Cathe J — 04 Jul 2004

[color=#000000]The Cooler with Bill Macy. Jenn headed out before the flick started, but was going to meet Clark at the airport, so her priorities were straight. Eric arrived, all dolled up from a night out with his visiting mom, and his wife. His mom designs and sews the coolest casual shirts I have ever seen using the most insanely out there patterned material. She won't sell these, but she'd make a bizillion a year if she tried to do so. Eric's shirt of the night was especially festive. [/color].

[color=#000000]The Cooler is a movie about a guy who gives people bad luck on the tables in Vegas. He "cools" their winning streaks. The acting was so great. Bill Macy can play anything, with those basset features, and radio star voice, and pull it off. Alec Baldwin plays a schmo who owns a casino in Downtown Vegas. He is venomous, vile, and knows his business. A waitress gets the attention of Macy's character, and suddenly, his luck changes. The movie has another twist. Baldwin's casino is getting a redo from a young, smirky know-it-all, Ron Livingston. The two stories are Macy and the Chick and Livingston and the Schmo. They are tied by the work of the cooler. It's a very well done movie, shot mostly in Reno, but in a way to make you feel the old Vegas. [/color].

[color=#000000]For those who have never been here, Downtown Vegas is where you can walk through the same casinos that Frank and Sammy used to sing in, and you can eat in the same restaurants as alleged mob bosses. The smell is different. It's not Disneyland by any stretch. You won't see children, except by accident. The bottom feeders and the die hards come out there to play. There are career waitresses who have their hair tied back so hard, they don't need plastic surgery. Lipstick smeared on cigarette butts. Gin and tonic permeates the slot machines. You can breathe in smoke from a Camel cigarette from 1955, and swear you've just seen Dean Martin at the cocktail lounge. Sonny King, Tony Curtis, and about 40 other used-to-be marquee names are around any and every corner. It's class in a glass, with an olive. I much prefer this Vegas to the shiny new Vegas. But I appreciate both. [/color].

[color=#000000]I'm not going to state any spoilers in the movie, as I just don't find that a way to say "good film". The acting was so good. I was really sickened by Baldwin, I was really pulling for Macy. I even bought that we were in a Vegas show room. It was dark, it was well written, it was a good use of story writing. It wasn't my favorite movie because of the violence, but it was well done. [/color].