The Cooler

REVIEW
Bernie Lootz (Macy) is one of life's endearing losers, a man who wears the misfortune the years have handed him with the accomplishment of an Olympic winner -- he deserves a medal just for still being alive. It's all written there in his eyes, his face, in his walk, but especially his job: Bernie is a cooler. His bad luck is such that if Bernie comes near you, your good luck changes instantly. Bernie's good at what he does. . . after all, he's got a gradutae degree in hard knocks. But lady luck may be about to change for Bernie, and how this comes about forms the core of writer-director Kramer's engaging character study that's an unlikely charmer. The new Las Vegas is a town for baby carriages and minivans, at least that's the way Shangri-La Casino operator Shelly Kaplow (Baldwin) sees it, and why he wants his casino, the last of a dying breed, to remain as it is. Here the ghosts of Frank Sinatra and Bugsy Siegel are palpable, and to Shelly, Bernie has his place, too. That's why he's concerned Bernie is planning to leave, a plan that may be put on hold when Bernie finds romance with a beautiful cocktail waitress (Bello), and his estranged son enters the picture. You won't find these characters in Ocean's Eleven, hell, they wouldn't let Bernie in the damn door. But what makes Kramer's often comic, even cynical tale so refreshing is the resiliency of his characters, who while certain of their lot in life never abandon the faintest hopes of something better when a chance comes along. Macy is terrific as Bernie, and his scenes with the equally good Bello have honesty, hopefulness and, most of all, chemistry. But it is Baldwin who steals the film with a blistering portrait of a casino boss who still lives by his own, misguided code of honor, whose rage is only matched by an obsession of the bottom line, and whose humanity has long ago been relinquished.