21 (2008)
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.
Watch Trailer
Cast
Similar titles
Reviews
Sorry, this movie sucks
Absolutely Brilliant!
It's complicated... I really like the directing, acting and writing but, there are issues with the way it's shot that I just can't deny. As much as I love the storytelling and the fantastic performance but, there are also certain scenes that didn't need to exist.
This film is so real. It treats its characters with so much care and sensitivity.
I gave this a 4 because I wanted to nod to the cinematography and the cast, but other than that, I agree with most user reviews.... there are simply too many mistakes for supposed MIT geniuses to make. 1. Going to the same casino on repeat. - As another user pointed out, Vegas IS casinos, so why consistently go to the same one, especially consider Spacey's character knows that the casino is scouted by the man who cause him in the past. 2. Using the same signals.- Hand gestures are a dime a dozen, you're telling me they couldn't use a cycle formula to change them out from time to time, if they're spending so much time on disguises, then why not seconds on gestures? 3. Glorification of power and corruption as a shocker (it wasn't a shocker). 4. Stashing over $300,000 grand in your dorm room ceiling? - Get a safe deposit box for goodness sake. 5. Falling for the girl that of course gave you no mind before. - Tired story line that could have been completely left out all together. It's just a sad thing because based off of the book and the cast it had true potential, but if you want to play 'look how smart this team is', then stick with the plot line and don't let their genius be valid or apparent only in Vegas.
Kevin Spacey plays an MIT mathematics professor who recruits his brainiest students to be part of his secret team of blackjack card counters and spotters. Jim Sturgess is the main character and is Spacey's newest recruit. Loosely based on a true story (in real-life all of the mathletes were Asian) the film does stretch credibility at times, but Spaces is amazing and in one of his wonderfully acerbic and snarky roles, and the film has a hip feel to it, featuring cool songs by MGMT and Peter Bjorn & John, and Laurence Fishburne is a lot of fun as a glowering casino fixer type of character who's out to get Spacey over an old beef. This film is breezy summer entertainment and is not a dark edgy poker movie like John Dahl's "Rounders," but it is still solid entertainment.
I watched this film on a relaxed Sunday evening expecting it to be a light heated flick and an enjoyable game of blackjack, similar to Oceans Eleven or Focus. Instead I found myself feeling anxious the whole time, waiting for the team to fail and inevitably loose all there money. Not the edge of you seat anxious, more the awkward 'why are they doing this' anxious. Of course it came to a relatively satisfying conclusion, as these types of films often do, but I gained little enjoyment from watching this as it was so obvious that everything had to go wrong at some point.Saying this, if you like cards and tense situations then this may be a good film for you. The acting was below average from most of the leads but, as always, Kevin spacey is a delight to watch. A standard plot and some interesting camera work make this an okay film, but there are better, similar films out there.My personal recommendations in order of preference would be:1. Oceans Eleven, 2. Rainman 3. The Hangover 4. Focus
Reviewed November 2011Winner winner chicken dinner, a lot of cheese dripping all over. Featuring good looking leads, a real big mentor and a simple script that may not go too wrong. The director messed everything up spectacularly. Trying to pull in every known stereotype attached to the game and genre, way too long in duration and he may better end up being known as the director who brought the worst in Spacey. Features a typical brilliant boy (Jim Sturgess), with an ordinary life and in need of money/scholarship to get into Harvard Medical school. He realizes his scholarship is in jeopardy and at the same time gets noticed by a shrewd professor (Kevin Spacey) who offers him a spot in his team that specializes in counting cards to beat the dealer in Blackjack. He accepts the offer for two reasons. 1) As a means to an end. 2) His long time crush Jill (Kate Bosworth) is in the team. Finally he ends up getting sucked by the glitz, glamour and easy money of Las Vegas. How he gets his act together comprises the rest of the story. Extremely cheesy with enormous number of redundant scenes featuring characters that are mere caricatures. Cinematography is good, background score is peppy, editing is slick and the lead character is believable. Kevin Spacey has given the worst performance I have seen of him and was a total letdown. They could've added a little more fun while presenting the Blackjack games than just the calculations in the minds of the geniuses that we should imagine. I was a bit disconnected with that.I could not think of any recommendation like 'Watch it only if ...'.. nothing comes to mind. Just drop it. It's easy and more fun.