The Cooler (DVD)
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Old-school style Las Vegas casino 'The Shangri-La', is run by the greedy Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) who employs every means at his disposal to swing the odds in favour of the house. One of these old-school methods is the employ of coolers. A cooler is someone who possesses such rotten gambling luck that whenever they even get near a table on which someone is on a hot winning streak, their luck immediately turns sour. Luckily for Shelly, he has the best cooler in the business working for him. Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is the epitome of a loser. If losing was an Olympic sport, Bernie would be a five-time gold medallist and world-record holder. Bernie doesn't particularly enjoy his job but is forced to work for Shelly because he is paying off a long-time gambling debt. Luckily for Bernie he has just a week left before his debt is paid and he can leave the dirty confines of the Shangri-La casino for brighter pastures. You see, not only is Bernie a loser when it comes to gambling, but he's not all that successful in everyday life either. He is forced to live in a dirty cheap motel room, he has no friends, and absolutely no love life whatsoever. A champion loser if ever there was one.
But life is about to take a sudden and uplifting twist for our loveable loser. A lovely cocktail waitress who works at the Shangri-La takes a shine to Bernie and asks him out. Natalie (Maria Bello) is everything Bernie could have wished for in a woman, but figured he would never have the slightest chance of having. The pair strike up quite an intimate relationship and suddenly Bernie's life is looking better. Unfortunately this sudden reversal of fortune has also affected Bernie's ability to cool tables. In one of the best scenes in the film, Bernie arrives at the casino for work, the morning after an intimate night with Natalie. Sporting a grin the Cheshire cat would be proud of, Bernie proceeds to stroll around the gaming floor. But rather than see punters suddenly start to lose money, the complete opposite occurs with punters scoring big on slot machines, roulette, craps, and blackjack. Bernie has suddenly gone from a cooling unlucky loser to a punters' good luck charm, and the big boss Shelly not happy.
But Shelly's problems with Bernie are just the beginning, since his methods of running the casino are coming under scrutiny from its owners, the mob. They send in a new man, Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston) to oversee Shelly's management and methods and to 'suggest' some new ways of doing things. Shelly, being from the old school of casinos, where the odd kneecapping or two isn't uncommon, isn't too appreciative of the suggestions, and clashes repeatedly with Sokolov. But when Shelly sees his money starting to walk out the door, closely followed by his cooler, Bernie, he knows he must take some drastic action to keep both the money and Bernie from leaving.
EXTRA FEATURES
Isolated Musical Score
Audio Commentary - Wayne Kramer, Frank Hannah and James Whitaker
Audio Commentary - Wayne Kramer and Mark Isham
Featurette - Anatomy of a Scene
Interviews-Cast
Storyboard Comparisons
Theatrical Trailer
The Cooler (DVD)
SKU: 24307
$9.99
Sale price
$9.99
Regular price
About This Item
🔴 Condition - New 🔴
Old-school style Las Vegas casino 'The Shangri-La', is run by the greedy Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin) who employs every means at his disposal to swing the odds in favour of the house. One of these old-school methods is the employ of coolers. A cooler is someone who possesses such rotten gambling luck that whenever they even get near a table on which someone is on a hot winning streak, their luck immediately turns sour. Luckily for Shelly, he has the best cooler in the business working for him. Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is the epitome of a loser. If losing was an Olympic sport, Bernie would be a five-time gold medallist and world-record holder. Bernie doesn't particularly enjoy his job but is forced to work for Shelly because he is paying off a long-time gambling debt. Luckily for Bernie he has just a week left before his debt is paid and he can leave the dirty confines of the Shangri-La casino for brighter pastures. You see, not only is Bernie a loser when it comes to gambling, but he's not all that successful in everyday life either. He is forced to live in a dirty cheap motel room, he has no friends, and absolutely no love life whatsoever. A champion loser if ever there was one.
But life is about to take a sudden and uplifting twist for our loveable loser. A lovely cocktail waitress who works at the Shangri-La takes a shine to Bernie and asks him out. Natalie (Maria Bello) is everything Bernie could have wished for in a woman, but figured he would never have the slightest chance of having. The pair strike up quite an intimate relationship and suddenly Bernie's life is looking better. Unfortunately this sudden reversal of fortune has also affected Bernie's ability to cool tables. In one of the best scenes in the film, Bernie arrives at the casino for work, the morning after an intimate night with Natalie. Sporting a grin the Cheshire cat would be proud of, Bernie proceeds to stroll around the gaming floor. But rather than see punters suddenly start to lose money, the complete opposite occurs with punters scoring big on slot machines, roulette, craps, and blackjack. Bernie has suddenly gone from a cooling unlucky loser to a punters' good luck charm, and the big boss Shelly not happy.
But Shelly's problems with Bernie are just the beginning, since his methods of running the casino are coming under scrutiny from its owners, the mob. They send in a new man, Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston) to oversee Shelly's management and methods and to 'suggest' some new ways of doing things. Shelly, being from the old school of casinos, where the odd kneecapping or two isn't uncommon, isn't too appreciative of the suggestions, and clashes repeatedly with Sokolov. But when Shelly sees his money starting to walk out the door, closely followed by his cooler, Bernie, he knows he must take some drastic action to keep both the money and Bernie from leaving.
EXTRA FEATURES
Isolated Musical Score
Audio Commentary - Wayne Kramer, Frank Hannah and James Whitaker
Audio Commentary - Wayne Kramer and Mark Isham
Featurette - Anatomy of a Scene
Interviews-Cast
Storyboard Comparisons
Theatrical Trailer