Review of The Cooler (2003) by Saska W — 11 Jun 2004

Minor Role In The Cooler.

---nod goes out to Dean.Killed.Bill for this one.

Strollin' thru the lanes of my local video store dive on the hunt for a flick or two to rent, and there it lay...

The Cooler.

A new take on the tired old rot of the gambler/gangster/owe-money-to-casino-mob-boss-flicks.

The Cooler moves in a slow pace from the get go, true to form in any character driven piece we start off slow and move through the loser of alltime losers, the godfather of bad luck, the sayin' "if it wasn't for bad luck, wouldn't have luck at all" character of William H. Macey.

Macey paints the perfect portrait for these types of roles. He is the picture of the down and out and the cast in "the cooler" are all top notch, performances all around are strong with lines, at times, seem like a David Mamet script, slicing and cutting thru, as these seasoned actors make there way thru the hard luck times of Vegas and a Casino on the outs.

Alec B giving a silent rage perfomances ala De Niro, was bloody great. The man who married Kim B. still has that nasty edge and delivered it up in one scene inside the hotel room of Macey and so surfaces the loner/selfhate character which Alec B played.

Oh yeah, this film is rich with characters thru and thru. Most notable is the old time lounge singer played by Paulie of Goodfellas or rather, Paul Sovino. Sovino can act! And I only wish he had a larger role in this film, for his character was one that I found very interesting= the fleeting crooner on the sliding end of a career where this dust bowl casino is his last stop, the entertainer whose best years are at least a decade behind him and he's well aware that he is becoming a joke. Which, sadly to say he already is.

Sovino's role, minor in the cooler, however, the performance and aura of this character captured beautifully by Sovino can be chalked up there as one of Sovino's best.

The Cooler is cool.

The Cooler = a solid 8.