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The Cooler
Bernie works at a Las Vegas casino, where he uses his innate ability to bring about misfortune in those around him to jinx gamblers into losing. His imposing boss, Shelly Kaplow, is happy with the arrangement. But Bernie finds unexpected happiness when he begins dating attractive waitress Natalie Belisario.
2003 · Directed by Wayne Kramer · 101 min · Romance · Drama · Screenplay in the scene database · 8 frames
Tagline
When your life depends on losing... the last thing you need is lady luck.
Plot
In Las Vegas, unlucky Bernie Lootz works at the Shangri-La casino as a "cooler" – a man with near-professional bad luck whose presence at a casino is designed to stop people from winning. A cocktail waitress, Natalie, takes no real notice of Bernie, who is smitten with her. The casino manager and partner, Shelly, prides himself on running a "classically" Las Vegas casino, and resents the new establishments that attract a lower clientele. The casino owners hire an advisor, Larry, whose ideas conflict with Shelly's traditional approach. Bernie informs Shelly that he is leaving town in a week.
After an encounter during which Bernie rescues Natalie from an aggressive customer, she appears to take an interest in him. Eager to prevent Bernie from leaving the casino, Shelly secretly prods Natalie into asking him out for a drink. They end up sleeping together, after which Natalie takes a genuine interest in Bernie. Although they begin seeing each other, Bernie is apprehensive due to his mostly bad luck. He reveals that he was once a gambling addict and became indebted to casinos, leading Shelly to force him into six years of work as a cooler. The couple encounter Bernie's estranged son Mikey and his wife Charlotte, and Bernie invites them to visit the casino.
Bernie is happy with his new relationship and his "cooling" abilities reverse, bringing good luck instead, much to Shelly's anger. When Bernie fails to cool Mikey at the craps table, Shelly realizes he is being cheated by Mikey. After Mikey wins a large sum at the casino, Shelly has him assaulted and Bernie agrees to repay Mikey's winnings. Though distraught, that night Natalie and Bernie confess their love for one another, and Bernie again becomes a good luck charm.
Plot summary from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA.
Crew
- Screenplay: Frank Hannah, Wayne Kramer
- Cinematography: James Whitaker
- Edited by: Arthur Coburn
- Music: Mark Isham
- Production design: Toby Corbett
- Produced by: Michael A. Pierce, Sean Furst
Cast
- William H. Macy as Bernie Lootz
- Alec Baldwin as Shelly Kaplow
- Maria Bello as Natalie Belisario
- Shawn Hatosy as Mikey
- Ron Livingston as Larry Sokolov
- Paul Sorvino as Buddy Stafford
- Estella Warren as Charlene
- Arthur J. Nascarella as Nicky Fingers Bonnatto
- Joey Fatone as Johnny Cappella
- M.C. Gainey as Highway Officer
Production
- Country: United Kingdom, United States of America
- Language: English
- Studios: Pierce/Williams Entertainment, ContentFilm, Lions Gate Films
- Budget: $4,000,000
- Box office: $10,400,000
- Themes: hotel, card game, drug abuse, casino, bad luck, jinx, las vegas, voyeurism
More by Wayne Kramer
On this film
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