"21" Movie Review

The movie 21 is based on the book Bringing Down the House, which is one of my favorite books of all time. The book is the real life story of how a group of MIT students figured out a way to count cards and win millions of dollars by playing blackjack in the Vegas casinos. If you haven't read this book, I highly suggest you go out and do so. It's an exhilirating read.

So when I heard that they were making a film based on this book, I had to go see it. It did kind of bother me a bit that the movie casted white actors in the lead roles when the real people were Asian Americans, but I decided to let that go and just judge the film on its own merits.

Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campbell, an MIT student who's just gotten accepted to Harvard Medical School. Problem is, he needs $300,000 to pay for the school's expenses. During a math lecture, he catches the eye of Professor Mickey Rosa, who then recruits Ben to join his team of geniuses in using a system to beat the casinos at blackjack. The system involved counting cards and also giving subtle signals to the team's "big players" to let them know which tables have an advantageous count going. Ben is initially against the idea but the lure of easy money to pay for his Harvard education is too much for him to resist.

I really enjoy movies about gambling and especially about Vegas so "21" was right up my alley. And I have to say that it was a very entertaining film. Yeah, they strayed from the book here and there but I'm not one of those guys that analyzes every scene for accuracy to the source material. Sturgess was good as the lead and Kevin Spacey as the ring leader Mickey Rosa is always exceptional. Not really a fan of Kate Bosworth but she did okay as the female lead. And Laurence Fishburne was also good as the casino head of security.

The fact that there was a character named "Choi" on the blackjack team was also very appealing to me for obvious reasons. Choi was an underdeveloped character but he had his funny moments and I liked his character. It was also cool to see Jeffrey Ma (the real life Ben Campbell) in a cameo as a blackjack dealer in the film.

So I'd recommend "21" if you liked films like "Rounders" and "Ocean's 11". While "21" is not as polished as those other films, it's still pretty exciting and fun to watch.