Picture This! Reviews The Cooler

Reprinted from NotesFromHollywood.com

Years ago, in what seem like another life time, my ex played Vegas two or three times a year. As the wife of a struggling musician, I’d drive up from LA on the weekend in the middle of the two week gig and see two shows a night from the wings and crash during the daylight hours in a cheap, off the strip motel. Ah, the glamorous life of the struggling musician.

On one of these forays I wandered out on the second floor balcony only to notice a blond, slender woman about my age talking to a man in the parking lot. As if it were yesterday, I remember the six-inch-long scar across her face. All the facades trimmed in neon lights and all the plush red carpets in all the casinos will never erase that image of the other side of Las Vegas, Nevada.

Fast forward to 2004. Saturday night, a glass of cabernet, and the DVD of The Cooler and the seediness of that moment comes back in an instant.

Whatever one’s preconceptions of the fast track in this gambling mecca may be, The Cooler sets them straight. Alec Baldwin as Shelly personifies “old” Vegas. No family playground for him or his hotel. Anxious to prove to the upstart MBA types that “Shelly knows best”, Baldwin makes your skin crawl.

Maria Bello doesn’t step gingerly from the small screen (a stint on TV’s ER). She leaps to the big screen and plays the hapless waitress Natalie for all she’s worth. Not just a pretty face (and not just a pretty body) Bello portays Natalie as multifaceted and complex as she teeters for the first time on the emotional rollercoaster of love.

But The Cooler is what it is because of William H. Macy. What a terrific actor. He’s one of a handful that seems to transform himself with each new role. If “cooler” is synonymous with “loser” than “Macy” is synonymous with “Academy Award”. Sometime, down the line, his talent will be acknowledged with a gold statue.

Wayne Kramer, who directed and co-wrote The Cooler with writer Frank Hannah, proved he’s capable of telling a taut story without ever tipping his hand.
Rebecca Redshaw is the Arts& Entertainment Critic for www.NotesFromHollywood.com. She can be reached at r2redshaw@hotmail.com.