The Cooler (DVD, 2004)

I love the movie because the most unlucky in everything it seems turns out to be the lucky one.And the one who used him most of all got just what he deserved in the end. Shelly would stop at nothing (it seemed) to keep Bernie under his thumb.
Loved it, Loved it, Loved it! The dvd was in perfect shape.
My favorite movie and in perfect shape. I'm extremely pleased!

Great flick - check it out. Didn't get a lot of "press" when it came out. Great story, great acting. Alec Baldwin and William H. Macy are awesome. The dude from "Office Space" is in it too - He's great.

Although the part was perfect for William Macy, who's a natural for the low-key depressive type, there were just too many quirky twists and turns to really follow, or at least make it entertaining in a believable sort of way.

Alec Baldwin can normally play well the tough guy parts, he so loves to play, however, even for him, it just didn't seem to go over well, with all the extreme, superstition thinking.

I like this movie because of the unique characters and actors who play them.

William H. Macy stars as Bernie Lootz, an unlucky guy who has the ability to 'cool' the winning streak of any player just by simply being present. Mario Bello is Bernie's love interest, Natalie Belisario, who happens to change his mood which in turn causes people to win when he's around them. Alec Baldwin plays Shelly Kaplow, the vicious casino boss of the Shangri-La, responsible for Bernie's destroyed kneecap which was done to cure Lootz of a gambling habit years earlier.

Additional characters are Bernie's son, Mikey (Shawn Hatosy), Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston) who plans on changing the Shangri-La, stage singer Buddy Stafford (Paul Sorvino), Mikey's "pregnant" girlfriend Charlene (Estella Warren), Shelly's advisor Nicky Bonnatto (Arthur J. Nascarella), and younger stage singer Johnny Cappella (N*SYNC's Joey Fatone).

This movie is funny, intense, and somewhat emotional.

Bernie Lootz is constantly proving he's the unluckiest guy in the world.

His wife left with their child, his kneecap was destroyed by a casino boss, he then worked for the same man that injured him by "cooling" any winning tables, he finally loves someone but it causes people to win money in the casino, his son appears with a pregnant girlfriend but is later revealed to have stuffed a pillow under her clothes, he agrees to pay Shelly the $150,000 his son was cheating at a game to win (with $3,000 Bernie had given him), Lootz almost lost a game he was playing to earn enough to pay off Shelly, and nearly got shot by a hired gun (MC Gainey).

At the right moment, Bernie Lootz was very lucky because a drunk driver had hit the man who was about to shoot him and Natalie.

I recommend this movie to anyone who's a fan of William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, and casino-related movies. Before seeing this movie, I never knew of the term "coolers" that are used in Vegas.

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this was a pretty good movie. i like the genere and i loved the concept(being a casino junkie). i bought this movie at first from someone on ebay and they never sent it so i had to open a paypal dispute and in the meanwhile bought another copy from someone else which arrived in about 2 or3 days and then finaly after about 3 or 4 weeks the first copy showed up. in the end id say it was worth it though. i consider myself to be a novie coneseure even though my taste is usualy not fully appreciated by some. if you have a taste for movies that are off the beaten path id definatly reccomend this one for you.

It was in good condition. I like the movie, which is why I bought the DVD to
give some friends for Christmas.