While Jennifer is walking me through all the Netflix-available seasons of Shameless, she introduced me to this movie I somehow overlooked a couple decades ago. I dig movies set in Las Vegas with two exceptions…The Hangover, not funny; Leaving Las Vegas, super depressing and you can tell they’re in Reno.
William H Macy uses his trademarked hound-dog face to play Bernie Lootz, a man who is bad luck incarnate. His luck is so bad, his mere presence can bring another person’s winning streak to an end, ergo, the old Vegas crowd call him a Cooler. Why does he do this? Well, he used to have a gambling problem until the the Shangri-La’s general manager Shelly Kaplow hired him, covered all debts and broke Bernie’s knee (to cure Bernie’s addiction).
When the movie begins, Bernie has a week left on his arrangement with Shelly. After that, he’s leaving Vegas to start a new life. While making his rounds killing various customers’ hot streaks, he intervenes on behalf of Natalie, a waitress getting the business from a patron. Natalie decides to thank Bernie for the help by having a drink. Events then proceed to them having a relationship. Bernie is smitten with Natalie. Natalie likes Bernie because he’s the first guy she’s met not out to hustle her.
I’m going to stop regarding the main plot point since you have to watch the movie to see their romance’s outcome.
Meanwhile, you see Shelly getting pressure from the Outfit to modernize the Shangri-La via Larry Sokolov, an advisor who thinks the casino could make Strip-level revenues. Shelly is adamant. What he operates is genuine Vegas, not the amusement-park crap the other places have pursued (the Nineties); it caters to the true high rollers, gambling is how to make money, not the side attractions.
The other side story is Bernie and Natalie running into Bernie’s son Mikey. Seems that Mikey has followed in his father’s pre-Cooler footsteps as they witness Mikey and his girlfriend Charlene scam a diner into a free meal. During another unexpected encounter, Bernie gives Mikey and the pregnant Charlene his savings with the hope they’ll leave Vegas and get a fresh start like him. Within hours, Bernie soon regrets his generosity.
Again, I highly recommend The Cooler if you enjoy stories involving Vegas, gambling, odd romances and dramas involving people not being their best. It’s not as depressing as it sounds. It starts off rough, Vegas isn’t a town for the faint of heart, especially if you drift away from the Strip or Fremont. You’ll see the shift in the last act. Other highlights involve seeing Paul Sorvino sing, Joey Fatone of NSYNC trying to take Paul’s gig and just all the little demonstrations of just how unlucky Bernie is at life.
Lastly, do I think Coolers exist? The easy answer is no. With the exception of Blackjack, every dice roll, every roulette wheel spin and every slot machine outcome are independent events. Casinos (and the Outfit) don’t need to cheat, they have Math and Probability on their side. Now a casino using a Cooler is a psychological tactic to throw someone off their game much like how chess masters play and I highly doubt modern casinos do, having some people win gets others to play and lose money.
