The Cooler - Plot

Plot

Unlucky Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) has little going for him: He lives in a dreary studio apartment in a rundown motel on the Las Vegas Strip, he's indebted to Shangri-La casino boss Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin), who years earlier cured him of a gambling habit by destroying his kneecap, and he can't recall the last time he had physical contact with a woman. His success as a "cooler" is jeopardized when cocktail waitress Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello) seemingly takes an interest in him, and his luck — and that of those around him — takes a turn for the better. What Bernie doesn't know is that Shelly has paid the woman to seduce him into staying in town. What Shelly doesn't know is that Natalie actually has fallen in love with Bernie, and vice versa. Additional complications arise when Shelly, an old-timer who resents the Disneyfication of Vegas, resists the efforts of new Shangri-La advisers, including Ivy League graduate and condescending upstart Larry Sokolov (Ron Livingston), to update the property and bring it into the 21st century.