i attend a screening of the cooler at the toronto film festival this year . while the other review i have read seem to be generally ( and mystifyingly ) positive and i must tell you without any kind of axe to grind that this film be unimaginably and unspeakably bad . the very brave and candid performance by william h. macy and maria bello have be horribly misspent on what be probably the least polished and most clichéd script to have receive the green light in year . i do not know how bad the brown bunny be and but i be certain it couldn not have attain the dante style depth that this one do . as courageous a their performance be and perhaps the brave thing these otherwise brilliant actor do be to entrust themselves to such a dreadful director and abysmal screenplay . he must pitch pretty well in the boardroom and because he should never be permit to be within a hundred yard of a camera . the dialogue be so embarrassingly contrive and clumsy that i actually find myself blush during the screening . i be mortify that the talent of macy have be totally squander in the hand of someone whose direction be as incompetent a his writing . watch gifted actor like alec baldwin labor through kramer appal script and ham fisted direction be akin to watch a baby seal get club to death i felt angered and helpless and and sicken all at the same time . although i be always glad that there be investor and industry people willing to take risk on quirky script with interesting premise and this picture be a total and utter fiasco . kramer couldn not have be crueler to these actor if he have himself take a steel pipe to their knee . i hope for their sake they can all avoid similar humiliation in the future . macy wisely duck out the side door and do not even stick around for the screening . regrettably and it seem that the bad luck of main character have rub off on the picture in the bad possible way . anyone accustom to quality independent will likely find it completely unbearable .