film: Movie Recommendation: The Cooler (2003)

Plot Outline: In an old school Las Vegas casino, its top gambling jinx breaks his curse when he falls in love, much to his boss' consternation.

Main Cast: William Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello.

I wanted to see this film when it was out in the theaters, but it had a very short release in my area and I missed it. I recently got a chance to view it on cable, and I wasn't disappointed.

The plot has faint Leaving Las Vegas overtones, but personally I found the film more enjoyable overall than LLV, and in fact I would give it a higher rating. About the only slight criticism I have is that I found the ending scene a bit hokey, but that wasn't enough to detract overall from my enjoyment of the movie.

The main characters, played by Macy, Baldwin and Bello, all gave excellent performances. Macy gave his usual splendidly subdued performance, and while I don't think Baldwin necessarily outshone Macy-both performances were superb-subjectively I think Baldwin edged out Macy by just a hair on the finest performance in the film. Baldwin was simply fantastic.

Maria Bello was also excellent, and I actually developed a little "suspension of disbelief" crush on her character while watching the film. She played the "hooker with the heart of gold" very nicely.

Overall, on a 4-pt. scale I give this movie a 3.6 rating. Superb movie, and I rate it above LLV. I highly recommend it.

I saw this movie with a friend recently, and I too think it was superb; Baldwin's performance as an obsolete casino boss was both fearsome and strangely tragic, and I also think he stole the show. Macy's performance was very good as well; who can't identify with the lovable loser?

I was a bit disappointed that the critical and box-office response was so tepid.

^^^Yeah, I think the weak level of critical acclaim is yet another instance of just how much of a role the commercial success/marketing buzz of the film has to do with the accolades it receives.

I've seen all but one of the 2003 movies nominated for Best Picture (and that would be the winner, LOTR...lol), and I think The Cooler was actually better overall than all of those I've seen. I enjoyed Seabiscuit and thought Mystic River was well done, but subjectively I just thought this film was better because of the superb performances by Baldwin and Macy. Master and Commander was a farce Best Picture nomination compared to this film.

If nothing else, I think Baldwin should have won Best Supporting Actor, because imo he CLEARLY outshined Tim Robbins' performance in his supporting actor role in MR.

I've been wanting to see this for a while but just haven't gotten around to it. Macy is a great actor, IMO.

I rented The Cooler because of Macy and felt even he couldn't save this film...booooring. Thumbs down folks.

for me Baldwin and Macy's solid performances accompanied by Macy's lovable loser character were the only things that made this movie bearable.
so obviously in saying that i can definitely see why it hasn't received any critical acclaim, and to me it was because of the completely unrealistic moral ending. i mean the whole plot line was going in a completely different direction, and then all of a sudden it just feels like it cuts, does a 3-60, and all seemingly because the director had to have the typical "happy moral ending". this really didn't feel natural, and imo came across as very cheesy.

id give it 2/5 stars.

After seeing the movie again, I have to say that Baldwin's "Shangri-La" and rooftop soliloquies were outstanding. The Shangri-La soliloquy was delivered as he was defending the "old school" casino way of life from the corporate interests after they unveiled plans for the new casino. The rooftop soliloquy was delivered to Macy's character as he desperately attempted to cling to the last remnants of his crumbling way of life, and hence his own identity. The two scenes were the strongest of the film, imo, and Baldwin was superb in each.

One question I had about the craps confrontation with Macy's son, however: how did Baldwin KNOW that the kid was using loaded dice? The film only offered one quick "X-ray" scene to explain Baldwin's discovery of the scam and did not offer any confirmation thereafter. That bothered me a little bit, although the "retribution" scene confirmed the scam. Still, Baldwin's actions were pretty extreme initially if he was only acting on a hunch...I suppose that could be viewed as a tribute to Baldwin's old school casino pit skills, though.