Bernie's bad luck changes when he meets Maria. She introduces him into the world of happiness with her sexual desires. This is where the movie is definitely rated "R." The sex scenes are very graphic and real. It gives the movie more of an edge. Because of this new found hapiness she becomes in his life, his luck begins to change. When approaching to tables, instead of giving people bad luck, he presents good luck. Every thing that happens to him swings his way and provides him happiness. Everyone seems to think of this as a good thing till his boss Shelly steps in. He becomes frustrated with the fact people aren't losing money at his casino. This is most of the plot and despite how uninteresting it sounds, it keeps the audience watching. The violent scenes are indeed very graphic and painful to watch.

There are so many good things with this movie, the acting, the script, the real violence, the casino style music, everything is top-notch, yet it is easily forgotten when walking out of the theater. As mentioned earlier, it tries to make like another casino movie, and it does succeed in most levels, but the difference here between this movie and the others, is the others have that over-whelming effect that stays with you even after you walk out of the theater. The plot is very interesting except for the sub-plots. The sub-plots provide interesting character development, which made the charatcers stand out even more, but most of the sub-plots seemed so rushed that one might see them as unimportant and almost pointless.

The Cooler is a good film, but not a great one. I highly recommend this movie to be seen by anyone at least once. The first time around, it will keep you watching for the top-notch performances, the gruesome realism, the suprise ending (which I never saw coming), and the classy casino music. But the second time around, I fear it may be harder to stay focused and keep interested since nothing is suprising and new. There is nothing more or new to learn from the second viewing.
But still, The Cooler is a good movie that plays its cards well and tries to stay in the game as long as it can.

Braugher actually doesn't sing; his voice is dubbed in. Neither does Scott Speedman, who plays a cab driver. But his pickup, Suzi (Maria Bello, from "Coyote Ugly") does, and acquits herself well on "Sweet Dreams" and "I Can't Make You Love Me."

Bruce Paltrow does toss in a couple of clinkers, but only briefly, and in the background. Curiously, he doesn't employ any Asian singers in any of the half-dozen or so bars in the movie. Karaoke was invented in Japan, became popular in various Asian cities, and has turned the stereotype of Asians as shy non-performers on its head. But you won't find any evidence of this evolution in "Duets."

Nor will you find much original. You've got yer hesitant parent and kid reunion; yer (black) con on the run hooking up with yer burned-out (white) guy making his own kind of escape. Then there's the cabbie who's just lost his girlfriend, and he just happens into the sexy Suzi, a small-town singer with stars in her eyes; she's itching to go to California. So call it three road movies squished into one, with the three pairs, such as they are, converging at a karaoke contest in Omaha.

See? You laughed again. But that's OK. "Duets" may be a bad movie, but it's the kind of bad that you can enjoy. As the New York Times' A.O. Scott wrote, "We could use more bad movies like this."