Movie Review for 21 (2008)

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Review #628 of 365
Movie Review of 21 (2008) [PG-13] 123 minutes
WIP™ Scale: $11.50
Where Viewed: AMC Westminster Promenade 24, Westminster, CO
When Seen: 30 March 2008
Time: 8:10 pm
DVD Release Date: 22 July 2008 (click date to purchase or pre-order)
Film's Official Website • Film's Trailer

Soundtrack: Download now from - or - order the CD below

Directed by: Robert Luketic (Monster-in-Law )
Screenplay by: Peter Steinfeld (Be Cool) • Allan Loeb (Things We Lost in the Fire) based on the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich

Featured Cast (Where You Might Remember Him/Her From):
Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) • Kevin Spacey (Fred Claus) • Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns) • Aaron Yoo (Disturbia) • Liza Lapira (Cloverfield) • Jacob Pitts (Across the Universe) • Laurence Fishburne (F4: Rise of Silver Surfer) • Jack McGee ("Rescue Me") • Josh Gad ("Back to You") • Sam Golzari (American Dreamz)

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Fans of the Ben Mezrich novel beware that the term 'inspired by' is used very loosely as the Allan Loeb / Peter Steinfeld screenplay bears only mild resemblance to the book. The film version of Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions re-entitled 21 concerns a boy-genius named Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) who has the intention of becoming a physician and graduating from Harvard Medical School as a tribute to the hard work of his working class mother and long-deceased father. His vehicle for admission is an M.I.T. undergrad degree and his plan to afford the $300K price tag is a special full-ride scholarship. He works diligently with his two side-kicks Miles (Josh Gad) and Cam (Sam Golzari) to perfect a self-driving car from which they all three hope to derive great acclaim, that is until devious professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) lures Ben to his 'dark side' involving a card-counting team of wunderkind math geniuses and the prospect of earning his Harvard tuition in one weekend.

The film divides roughly into three acts: Ben being lured to the dark side, Ben and company winning millions of dollars at various Las Vegas casinos, and Ben coping with and working back from losing everything. Ironically, the middle act, which one might think would be the most exciting and thrilling is a snoozer.

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…the middle act…is a snoozer.

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Reserve the consumption of your caffeinated beverage for this act in other words. It is really the final act that is the most compelling. Along the way, Ben, who's selected by Rosa for his analytical emotionless ability to focus allows his emotions and ego to get in the way causing him to lose a ton of money in one night. The loss is so devastating, that Rosa drops the hammer on him and his card-counting team. A plan to go it alone results in Rosa then retaliates escalating events that eventually nearly rub Ben out leaving him penniless and without a future after a brief ride at the top. The twists then focus on Ben's own plan to turn the table on Micky Rosa his former sage and mentor.

While the story is uneven, the performances never waver. Director Robert Luketic utilizes his interesting cast to their fullest getting a performance from Kevin Spacey that, while still a smarmy bad-guy character, better utilizes his considerable talents far better than his previous two films. Jim Sturgess fresh off his role in Across the Universe, stands out as one of the more promising actors of his generation to come along in a great many years. Something about his quirky good looks and emotion-filled eyes makes him a real find as a future leading man. Meanwhile, Kate Bosworth [note for Gardner E.] who is as of this writing 25 years old [so you G.E. were correct all along] has a terrific time playing Jill Taylor, member of the team as well. Jill, more than the others, takes her roles as various gambling mavens more seriously adding great effect to the dimension of her character as she acts the character acting a caricature. Aaron Yoo plays the only Asian-American on the team—as contrasted by reality where most of the team was made up of Asian-Americans. Unfortunately, Aaron Yoo's acting ability has not sufficiently matured making him come across much as he did in Disturbia as slightly more than a caricature of himself. One thing he does not come across as is capable of being an expert card counter let alone brilliant M.I.T. student. Overall, the leading performances from Mr. Spacey, Mr. Sturgess, Ms Bosworth, and Laurence Fishburne who plays Cole Williams, the private security man entrusted with finding and booting card counters in Las Vegas casinos are all Aces.

Where the film falters, however, is in dealing fully with the morality of the characters' personal choices and, perhaps, trying too hard to make the whipped up version of the story more compelling that the original true story. In the end, this may seem a bit disingenuous especially to the people who read the book.

As a complete film, 21 flirts with the classic elements of good drama and thrills in interesting ways both with obviously good people being corrupted by an amoral dude, oops, we're not to call him "dude", and subsequently seduced into amorality by greed. Of course, the irony being that counting cards is technically not illegal it just falls into the category of "we reserve the right to refuse service to anyone" and casinos don't like it. It's fine for them to rig slot machines to payout at random times but based on amounts of money inserted, or for people to use all the skill in the world they have to play Texas Hold 'Em, but outlandish to be really, really good at counting cards? In any case, the film taps the related emotions and struggles and pounces on the opportunity to demonstrate inevitable complications when ego, power, and money are involved.

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…21 flirts with the classic elements of good drama and thrills…the ending delivers with a plausibly twisty and well-conceived sucker punch…

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Still, the film sorely sags in the middle suffering from a bit of over-indulgence inducing a sense of "where's this going and when's it going to end". One could blame the true story if the film were actually utilizing the true story. In this case, since the screenplay deviates nearly entirely from the true story, there's really no one to blame but the writers Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb and director Robert Luketic. One would think test screenings would have revealed this flaw and editors would have been put to work to shorten it. To its credit, the ending delivers with a plausibly twisty and well-conceived sucker punch to the 'villain' permitting 'our hero' to prevail and sealing the package with a happy ending to a dark journey down his path of self-discovery.

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Still Photo Gallery for 21 (2008)

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(all images used with permission for press reproduction)

Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell	Kate Bosworth as Jill Taylor
Kevin Spacey as Micky Rosa	Laurence Fishburne as Cole Williams and Jack McGee as Terry

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Related Products from Amazon.com

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Other Projects Featuring 21 (2008)
Cast Members
Jim Sturgess • Kevin Spacey • Kate Bosworth
Aaron Yoo • Liza Lapira • Jacob Pitts
Laurence Fishburne • Jack McGee • Josh Gad
Sam Golzari
Director
Robert Luketic
Writers
Peter Steinfeld • Allan Loeb

Book	Soundtrack CD

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Review-lite 21 (2008) [max of 150 words]

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Very loosely based on the Ben Mezrich book, the film version of Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions re-entitled 21 concerns a boy-genius Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) who intends on graduating from Harvard Medical School. The $300K price tag is the only thing standing in his way, until devious professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) lures him to his 'dark side' involving a card-counting team of wunderkind math geniuses and the prospect of earning four years of tuition in a single weekend. Dividing roughly into three acts, the film sags in the middle though Sturgess's and Spacey's performances throughout redeem it somewhat and the ending delivers with a plausibly twisty sucker punch to the 'villain' permitting 'our hero' to prevail and sealing the package with a happy ending to a dark journey down his path of self-discovery.

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