The Cooler (2003)

William H. Macy: Bernie Lootz

Photos 

Quotes 

• [Natalie sees herself in the rear-view mirror] 

  Natalie : Oh my God.

  Bernie : Hey. You look in the mirror, you don't like what you see, don't believe it. Look in my eyes, I am the only mirror you're ever gonna need. You look in my eyes, Natalie.

• Natalie : I thought "easy money."

  Bernie : What are you talking about?

  Natalie : Shelly. He paid me to get close to you, to keep you around.

  Bernie : Shelly...?

  Natalie : Yeah. Shelly. You were right that first night. I was for sale. Bought and paid for. You were the easy mark, Bernie. At first I thought that you were just another way to make a quick buck, you know? And then I started to take a closer look. And for the first time, you were somebody who wasn't trying to hustle me. Somebody who wasn't trying to pretend he was someone he wasn't. Just a decent guy, trying to get back on track. And it didn't hurt any that you put me up on a pedestal. It sure puts the gutter in perspective.

• Bernie : They've got these rules about casinos hiring felons, so he got me a gig in telemarketing. We were scamming pensioners out of their retirement money. I-I lasted two weeks. By that time, I was... I was really getting in deep. I owed one of the casinos over a hundred grand. I put Shelly in a really awkward position. I don't blame him for what he did.

  Natalie : What?

  [Bernie indicates his injury] 

  Natalie : Your leg? He did that to you? He shot you?

  Bernie : No. Baseball bat. I got off easy.

  Natalie : What do you mean you got off easy?

  Bernie : I was out of control.

  Natalie : He maimed you, for fuck's sake!

  Bernie : Listen to me. I'm grateful for what he did. I am absolutely serious. Any time I get an urge to play off the clock or so much as drop a quarter in a slot, I just reach down and feel what's left of my cartilage. It's an excellent reminder.

• Natalie : I think that, uh... I love you. No. I don't think. I'm pretty sure of it. You blindsided me, Bernie Lootz. I never saw it coming. You shouldn't do that to a girl. There's so many things you don't know, that you should know. Oh, fuck, I don't wanna ruin this.

  Bernie : It-it... it don't matter. It don't matter what you come clean about. It's not gonna change the way I feel about you. It's not. Natalie, I... I'd say it, but...

  Natalie : Say it. Just say it.

  Bernie : No, with my rotten luck...

  Natalie : Don't... fuck rotten luck, Bernie. That's over.

  Bernie : I love you, Natalie. I really, really love you.

• Natalie : Did you notice, uh, last night, that tattoo on my butt?

  Bernie : Little Joe?

  Natalie : Yeah. Yeah, two 2's. Little Joe. I had a son. His name was Joe. I was his mother for one year.

  Bernie : You don't have to tell me this.

  Natalie : No, I want to, Bernie. I gave my son up for adoption. I just wanted my life back. I was seventeen going on eighteen and I was so fucking selfish. My family didn't want nothing to do with me after that, so I hitched a ride out here and, uh, thought I'd make it as a showgirl. Ten years later... I'd like to think that if it happened when I was older, with a guy that I cared about, that it would have been different, you know? I think about my little Joe sometimes and I do know I did the right thing. I'm convinced of that.

• Natalie : Bernie, let's do it up the ass.

  Bernie : Okay.

  Natalie : Please, please?

  Bernie : Okay, okay.

  Natalie : No, my ass!

• Bernie : Better luck next time.

• Shelly Kaplow : You want to tell me what's going on out there?

  Bernie : I don't know.

  Shelly Kaplow : What do you mean you don't know? We're down almost a mil out there. Doesn't that seem strange to you?

  Bernie : I guess I'm having an off day.

  Shelly Kaplow : No, no, no. You don't have off days, Lootz. You're shitty luck incarnate.