*** (out of ****)
Starring William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Mario Bello, Ron Livingston, Shawn Hatosy, Estella Warren, Joey Fatone, and Paul Sorvino
Directed by Wayne Kramer & written by Frank Hannah and Wayne Kramer
2003
101 min R
“This place isn't faux dive. It's a real dive!”
“You're a long way from home, yuppie boy.”
—Moe the bartender on “The Simpsons” responding to a snotty suburbanite who's wandered in by accident.
It's hard to think of two locations more disparate that 1876 Japan and the present day casinos of Las Vegas, but “The Cooler” and “The Last Samurai” are essentially about the same thing: the end of one era and the beginning of another, and those displaced by the shift. Old casinos like the movie’s Shangri-La are under attack by brightly-lit multi-million dollar tourist traps that are like Disneyland or Chuck E. Cheese's with liquor and slot machines. Old schoolers see the safe, phony, family-friendly tourist traps as having no class. Think of the last shot of “Casino,” in which a mirage of the pastel-clad elderly storm Las Vegas from behind walkers.
In place of Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe, traditional Las Vegas is embodied by a cooler (William H. Macy) and the very, very shady operator of the Shangri-La (Alec Baldwin). There’s nothing more old-school than a cooler: he is a man so unlucky that the casino has actually hired him to stand next to players who have won too much so that their luck will change. Improbable? I hear some real-life casinos still hire them, and Macy's character is said to be the best in the business. He and Baldwin have been friends for years, scam artists long before they ever saw the Shangri-La, but the new blood in Las Vegas doubt Macy’s usefulness.
Enter Ron Livingston (“Office Space”) as the Harvard boy sent by Baldwin's superior in the underworld chain of command to help bring the Shangri-La into the 21st century—although Baldwin makes it clear, and in no uncertain terms or shortage of the f-word, that the 21st century has no business in the village that time forgot. While Baldwin downs dark liquors in sturdy glassfuls, notice the dainty politeness with which Livingston sips his drinks. Livingston’s plans include kicking out the old Italian torch singer (Paul Sorvino) in favor of “the next Harry Connick,” (Joey Fatone) installing an IMAX theater, using subconscious music to urge clients to lose, and otherwise transforming the Shangri-La into another Dave & Buster’s with strollers everywhere.
Macy’s character is hopelessly down on himself, hopelessly blue, hopelessly gloomy, and absolutely under Baldwin’s control. Now enter Lady Luck, in the form of a cocktail waitress (Maria Bello of “Auto-Focus”) with eyes for the cooler and bent on breaking him from his nonstop mope. She shows him how determined Baldwin is to keep him down on himself, to keep him a loser. Her love, magically, changes the cooler’s luck, and everyone around him at the Shangri-La is suddenly awash in jackpots and royal flushes. Needless to say, Baldwin is none too pleased. Macy never comes out and says that his old casino position is what’s been holding him back all these years, but it’s clear that he’s enjoying his new freedom from Vegas’ dated superstitions. His new love leads him into the kind of sex you hardly ever see in the movies, i.e., not all perfect and soft-focused, but sweaty, painful, urgent, awkward, and actually kind of gross. Make no mistake, Baldwin is a snake, a gangster pure and simple, and he does not take Macy's change of heart lying down, nor can he much stand the snot-nose Harvard boy encroaching on his territory.
I love William H. Macy, but somehow his turn as the world’s biggest loser is never quite as compelling as I thought it would be. It is still a good, effortless portrait of low self-esteem; watch his puppy-dog smile when his beloved waitress asks him “did you see the tattoo on my butt last night?” Like “The Last Samurai,” a supporting role eclipses the lead. Alec Baldwin has not had much success in his youthful ambitions to become a traditional leading man. But he has made great steps as a supporting player in movies like “Glengarry Glen Ross” and “State and Main,” as well as voice acting in “The Royal Tenenbaums,” “Final Fantasy,” and the “Clerks” television cartoon. He plays his gangster as a man comfortable with power and pinky rings, ultimately friendless and only understanding relationships in terms of control. The scene in which he resolves a subplot with Macy’s deadbeat son (Shawn Hatosy) is the movie’s best and most intense.
“The Cooler” is directed by Wayne Kramer, who gives it a leisurely, unhurried style, and plenty of lonely saxophone solos to follow Macy wherever he goes. He does not beat us over the head with how Macy’s magic is affected by Bello. Some viewers and reviewers have bemoaned chumpy Macy hooking up with the beautiful Bello. The answer to that dilemma comes when Macy’s no-good son betrays him one more time, but the cooler is still willing to stand by his boy. And there we learn what she sees in him when she says “he’s just a decent guy.”
Finished February 17, 2004
Copyright © 2004 Friday & Saturday Night
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