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Luck Be a Lady Tonight
Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is a perpetually unlucky man. He's so unlucky that he has to repay a big gambling debt to the operator of the Shangri-La Casino in Las Vegas, Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin), by becoming the house "cooler" -- the jinx called in to majorly ruin the good fortune of big gamblers who are winning at the Shangri-La.
Kaplow is an "old school" mobster -- he believes in keeping things the way Vegas was in the day when violence and intimidation was how the casinos stayed in business. He resists the pressure from the big mob to update, upgrade the Shangri-La, to modernize it, remodel, get rid of the old school methods in favor of mental manipulation and technology. Despite urging to get rid of the cooler, Kaplow feels he owns him. But with seven days left on his contract to Kaplow, Lootz tells Kaplow that in a week, he's gone.
Determined to not let Lootz go, Kaplow tries ways to retain him. But then Lady Luck comes Lootz's way in the form of a beautiful bar waitress, Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello) and Lootz becomes the luckiest man in town. He's no longer effective as a cooler as he brings good luck to every table he passes by in the casino. This does not, of course, please Kaplow.
Also appearing are Shawn Hatosy as Lootz's son Mikey; Estella Warren as Mikey's pregnant girlfriend; Paul Sorvino as the aging lounge lizard; Joey Fatone as the young lounge lizard; Arthur J. Nascarella as the mobster Nicky Fingers Bonnatto who wants Kaplow to change modernize the Shangri-La; Ron Livingston as Nicky's VP, Larry Sokolov; Richard Israel as Sokolov's numbers man Marty Goldfarb; Ellen Greene as the bartender; and MC Gainey as the highway patrolman.
Written and directed by Wayne Kramer.
Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Rated R for strong sexuality, violence, language and some drug use.
My personal rating: B
Bernie Lootz (William H. Macy) is a perpetually unlucky man. He's so unlucky that he has to repay a big gambling debt to the operator of the Shangri-La Casino in Las Vegas, Shelly Kaplow (Alec Baldwin), by becoming the house "cooler" -- the jinx called in to majorly ruin the good fortune of big gamblers who are winning at the Shangri-La.
Kaplow is an "old school" mobster -- he believes in keeping things the way Vegas was in the day when violence and intimidation was how the casinos stayed in business. He resists the pressure from the big mob to update, upgrade the Shangri-La, to modernize it, remodel, get rid of the old school methods in favor of mental manipulation and technology. Despite urging to get rid of the cooler, Kaplow feels he owns him. But with seven days left on his contract to Kaplow, Lootz tells Kaplow that in a week, he's gone.
Determined to not let Lootz go, Kaplow tries ways to retain him. But then Lady Luck comes Lootz's way in the form of a beautiful bar waitress, Natalie Belisario (Maria Bello) and Lootz becomes the luckiest man in town. He's no longer effective as a cooler as he brings good luck to every table he passes by in the casino. This does not, of course, please Kaplow.
Also appearing are Shawn Hatosy as Lootz's son Mikey; Estella Warren as Mikey's pregnant girlfriend; Paul Sorvino as the aging lounge lizard; Joey Fatone as the young lounge lizard; Arthur J. Nascarella as the mobster Nicky Fingers Bonnatto who wants Kaplow to change modernize the Shangri-La; Ron Livingston as Nicky's VP, Larry Sokolov; Richard Israel as Sokolov's numbers man Marty Goldfarb; Ellen Greene as the bartender; and MC Gainey as the highway patrolman.
Written and directed by Wayne Kramer.
Run time: 1 hour, 41 minutes
Rated R for strong sexuality, violence, language and some drug use.
My personal rating: B
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