Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.
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Simple Math For The Genius Minds
Gambling movies tend to be a little on the weak side. 21, on the other hand, had all the makings of a very good movie; promising actors, quite a nice plot, and a decent budget too!
Ben Campbell, a bright mind from MIT, wants to be a doctor. Not just any doctor though, he wants to study in the Harvard Medical School, and that makes things a bit more difficult. Ben comes from a normal family with quite an average income, and works at a clothing store with a salary of $8 an hour. The thing is, the tuition fees and other costs at Harvard Med are more than $300 000 - a sum far beyond Ben's budget. There is a scholarship that would cover all the expenses, but it is a gamble; awarded to a single genius mind that dazzles the selectors. However, what Ben doesn't know is that gambling is exactly what might just save him from the financial crisis...
Ben, being as intelligent as he is, is spotted by his professor, Micky Rosa, and is invited to join in a group of students who spend weekends in Vegas, playing blackjack and counting the cards, making tens of thousands of dollars a trip. Seeing this as an oppourtunity to earn the money for Harvard, Ben joins the team and in no time, is off to Vegas with the team. They walk over the casinos and make crazy amounts of money, but what they don't know is that there's also someone watching them - and not very happy about the fact that they're counting cards...
I saw the trailer for 21 a while back and thought it was pretty promising. It turned out to be a strong film with a good cast. Not exactly dazzling, but something definitely worth the time spent at the theater.
21 does well in where many other movies about gambling have failed - by integrating a nice plot and a good cast with modern camera work, a pleasant visual package with some entertaining casting and a storyline that kept you in quite well. As a whole, 21 definitely worked its way to meet the expectations I had.
Jim Sturgess was quite convincing as the MIT student who was a little shy at first, but evolved into a confident player. Kevin Spacey delivers a solid performance, and Kate Bosworth supports the bunch with her own performance as well. I personally found Kevin Spacey the best actor in the bunch, although Laurence Fishburne was up for that nomination too. The special mention goes out to Aaron Yoo - he was really funny. The visuals are, as you would expect of a film like 21, colourful, sharp and very effective. I liked what I saw.
What I really didn't like that much was the music. At best, it was a bit above average, but mostly the sounds in the background were quite dull. And the music during the opening scene - a nice twist, yet maybe not the best choice.
What can I say about 21 in general then? Well, I might not want to watch this twice, but the first time was good fun. A nice movie in the lights of Vegas with many funny moments and an interesting plot, definitely entertaining.
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