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The Cooler

✭ ✭ ✭   Read critic reviews

United Kingdom, United States · 2003
1h 41m
Director Wayne Kramer
Starring William H. Macy, Alec Baldwin, Maria Bello, Shawn Hatosy
Genre Drama, Romance

Bernie works at a Las Vegas casino, where he uses his innate ability to jinx gamblers into losing. His imposing boss, Shelly Kaplow, is happy with the arrangement. But Bernie finds unexpected happiness when he begins dating waitress Natalie Belisario.

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What are critics saying?

75

Premiere by

Driving the plot, Baldwin gives an inexorable, career-marking performance.

80

Los Angeles Times by Kevin Thomas

Director Wayne Kramer and co-writer Frank Hannah pull off a sleight-of-hand trick here, playing a gritty surface reality against dark Vegas mythology and getting away with it through a combination of shrewd, witty characterization and sure-footed storytelling skills.

40

Village Voice by Mark Holcomb

First-timer Wayne Kramer brings pathos to Bernie and Shelly's fraught relationship, but his film never amounts to more than a cute idea stretched to poker-chip thinness.

70

Film Threat by Merle Bertrand

Has the intangible and distinctive feel of a movie from a different era. Which just adds to this fine film's mystique, providing yet another reason why The Cooler hits the jackpot.

88

Rolling Stone by Peter Travers

Wayne Kramer, who co-wrote the scrappy script with Frank Hannah, makes a potent directing debut and strikes gold with the cast.

90

Variety by Todd McCarthy

Wayne Kramer's sexy and often humorous feature directorial debut surrounds its sweet center with the energy, flash and risk of the gambling capital. Sterling performances by William H. Macy and Maria Bello as the long-shot lovers and Alec Baldwin as a temperamental casino operator.

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