Bernie Lootz (William H Macy) is a ’cooler’, a fount of bad luck. He works on the floor
of the Shangri-La casino. All he has to do is brush the sleeve of anyone on a winning streak
and their luck goes down the drain.
And as Bernie puts it so philosophically, ’’I do it by being myself’’
His boss, Shelly (Alec Baldwin) runs the casino in the old-style. He says to a group of
investors who want to modernise the casino, ’’...this place is not for the stroller crowd. Its for
the old timers with real money’’
Bernie works for Shelley to pay off a bad debt, part payment for which has been extracted by
Shelly by breaking one of Bernie’s knee caps.
But Bernie is done paying his debt and wants out. Then he meets Natalie (Maria Bello),
a cocktail waitress at the casino and falls in love with her and she strangely falls in
love with him (a few explicit sex scenes here)
And after falling in love, his luck turns and he becomes a good luck charm
to Shelly’s discomfort.
Bernie: ’’.. I think I’m having a off day’’
Shelly: ’’You don’t have off days’’
The rest of the film is Shelly trying to break them apart and on the other hand trying to
stave off the inevitable change that is taking over the Shangri-La.
The plus point of this film is that all the chracters are believable and at points
painfully real. From Bernie to Shelly to the over the hill lounge singer Buddy (Paul Sorvino)
and Shelly’s pal Fingers(Arthur Nascella)
Check the scene where Fingers punches out a trash talking ’suburbanite’ at the craps table
and turns to Shelly and says nostalgically ’’..we wouldn’t let such trash past the front door... ’’
Ironically it is Fingers who brings in the new investors for the Shangri-La’s makeover.
The film IS dark and avoids the glitz that usually is a part of the movies set in Vegas.
But in the end it does make one smile (did I just give away the ending ?)
Alec Baldwin as the brutal Shelly is excellent, well deserving his Oscar nomination.
Maria Bello as Natalie is ’’oh so beautiful’’ in a classic way.
Although I can think of a few actors who could play Bernie Lootz, no one can do it
better than William H Macy. Why this performance did not get an Oscar nod, I don’t know.
It is well nuanced and low key performance. It makes us want to hug Bernie and tell him that
he is not a loser.
I have a feeling that not many will have patience for this movie. So if u don’t like
don’t blame me