21 (+ BD Live) [Blu-ray]
Studio: Sony Pictures Home Ent Release Date: 07/22/2008 Run time: 123 minutes Rating: Pg13An unconvincing exercise in moral complexity, 21 is based on Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) plays brilliant, blue-collar scholar Ben Campbell, whose doubts that he’ll win a scholarship to Harvard Medical School compel him to join a secret, M.I.T. gang of math whiz kids. Under the silky but chilling command of a math professor (Kevin Spacey), Jim and the others master card counting, i.e., the statistical analysis of cards dealt in blackjack games. The team lives a humdrum existence during the week, but on weekends in Sin City, the students are rolling in cash, going to exclusive clubs, and feeling on top of the world. (Ben even gets the girl: a comely, fellow counter played by Kate Bosworth.) Despite all that success, Ben feels ethically compromised, and indeed director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde), in the old tradition of American movies, plays it both ways where fun vices are concerned. On the one hand, it feels so good; on the other, ahem, we know it’s wrong. That studied ambivalence proves wearing after a while, making the most interesting character in the film a casino watchdog played by Laurence Fishburne. A master at reading the emotions of gamblers beating the house with a scam, he’s admirable for being good at his job, but repellent for wrecking the faces of counters in casino dungeons. He’s all about moral complexity in the tradition of anti-heroes, and a truly provocative element in an otherwise superficial movie. –Tom Keogh
Beyond 21
 Two-disc Special Edition DVD |
 Read the book 21 was based on |
 UMD for PSP |
Stills from 21 (click for larger image)
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User Ratings and Reviews
3 Stars Young and reckless or is it young and responsible?
Entertaining movie about a group of MIT students and their professor who plan to take down Las Vegas casinos by playing black jack and counting cards. This group of young people are all talented and smart and they all have big dreams. But they come from humble background and in the new world where schoilarships are limited and it takes more that 4.0 GPA and extracurricular activities to get them, the only thing left for them is to play cards for money in hopes they save enough for their medical schools board and tuition. I like the fact that film is not trying to preach what the high moral ground should be in those types of situations, but rather focuses on how certain types of success can change the nature of human beings, nature of friendship and the shift of power. Kevin Spacey is great in his role of the professor who scopes, trains and “invests” in his gambling student talent.
2 Stars Predictable and boring really
This could have had so much more but poor boy wants to have enough money to go to medical school. Has an aptitude for counting cards. You can fill in the rest. Its predictable and not very exciting.
4 Stars Pure Hollywood and a lot of fun, but unrealistic, even though based on a true story
Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is a brilliant MIT student on his way to Harvard Medical School. He’s already been accepted, but the money is an issue. Ben is up for a full scholarship, but so are 76 other people, and he has spent so much time studying, he’s had little opportunity for the “life experience” the scholarship board seeks from that one “dazzling” candidate that deserves the $300,000 free ride.
So, when his Nonlinear Equations professor, Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey), recruits him to his team of other brilliant students to count cards in Las Vegas casinos, he reluctantly accepts — on the condition that once he’s earned the three-hundred grand, he’s out.
Spacey is electric as Professor Rosa, but it’s Sturgess’s work as Ben Campbell that grounds this flight of fancy in reality. He is instantly likable, and his troubles are relatable, even though few people have actually experienced them. Laurence Fishburne also has a nice turn as ultra-intimidating security man Cole Williams, a man who does whatever it takes to keep his job in an increasingly computer-controlled arena.
Though it’s supposedly based on a true story, 21 is pure Hollywood all the way. From its underprivileged hero given the opportunity of a lifetime, to its instant inclusion of the hero’s dream love interest (here Kate Bosworth), to how Ben drops his geek friends once he gets the chance to hang out with cooler people, to how the student surpasses the teacher.
The first portion of the movie is so predictable, in fact — and so spelled-out for the general audience — that it’s a struggle just to get through to the interesting portion: the actual Vegas scenes. As a whole, however, 21 is a lot of fun, and I was surprised at how much I thought about it after it was over, especially that insipid but catchy phrase, “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.”
1 Stars Frankly, garbage
This is NOT a movie of Bringing Down the House, which was a very good account of the experience of being part of a team of Black Jack shysters. The script writers clearly did not understand the type of card-counting being done in Bringing Down the House, which is probably why they created this bogus back-story about a brainiac college student (very unconvincingly acted by Jim Sturgess) that had nothing to do with this kind of card-counting, which is done by teams and does not require one to be a brainiac, just detail-oriented and observant, and able to follow directions. In addition, the first sample presented in the movie of his mathematical prowess was that he knew how to break 100% up into 3 parts…which made his professor take a second look at his paper…at MIT no less…which is even more unconvincing than the acting. Overall result? Embarrassing.
1 Stars Dumbed down
What happened with this movie is, they took a story that originated in the real world that was highly fascinating, and dumbed it down to a formulaic movie that is utterly predictable and just plain boring.
If they had stuck with more genuine material, the story would be more interesting. The movie is a disservice to the players in the actual events.
Filed under: Blue Ray Movie Reviews