Task: Story Composition
Input (English): Fact1: Lootz n't recall last time with woman, Fact2: Shangri-La casino boss cured him of gambling habit years earlier, Fact3: Bernie has been working off large debt to Shelly, Fact4: Shelly has paid Natalie to seduce him into staying and working at Shangri-La, Fact5: growing power of new young Ivy League casino owners backing of is lessening power grip on casino and business gangster Nicky Fingers
Output (English): Unlucky Bernie Lootz William H. Macy has little positive going for him: he lives in a dreary place—a studio apartment in a rundown motel near the Las Vegas Strip; he cant recall the last time he had physical contact with a woman; hes indebted to the ShangriLa casino boss Shelly Kaplow Alec Baldwin, who years earlier cured him of a gambling habit by breaking his kneecap. Kaplow had also paid Lootzs casino debts, and Bernie has been working off that large debt to Shelly for several years and the debt is nearly paid off. Lootz is weary of the casino business, and tells Kaplow he is leaving Las Vegas soon. His future success as a luck cooler is changed 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 doesnt know yet is that Shelly has paid Natalie to seduce him into staying and working at the ShangriLa. What Shelly doesnt know is that Natalie actually has fallen in love with Bernie, and vice versa. Additional complications arise when Shelly, a relative oldtimer who resents the Disneyfication of Vegas, resists the efforts of new ShangriLa owner advisers, including Ivy League graduate and condescending upstart Larry Sokolov Ron Livingston, to update the casino hotel property and bring it into the 21st century. Lootz also learns his seldomseen adult son is back in town, and, with his wife, is interfering with the operations at the ShangriLa. Though Shelly still has the backing of certain mob associates, such as gangster Nicky Fingers, the growing power of the new young Ivy League casino owners is lessening his power grip on the casino and the business he truly loves.