When Brad Pitt’s character in “Ocean’s Eleven” walked out of the Bellagio with $160 million, audiences were hooked on movies where the average person can swindle a big-name place for a heck of a lot of money. So who doesn’t want to see a true story about college students making a killing in Las Vegas in a “legal” way? “21,” based on the novel “Bringing Down the House” by Ben Mezrich, is the true story of students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who take on Vegas casinos for millions of dollars through blackjack.

The movie opens in a casino while a voice explains how the phrase “Winner, winner, chicken dinner” was coined and moves on to show some basic hand signals used by cheaters. The last signal the voice goes on to describe is the finger through the hair, which means, “get out, now.” This allows viewers to come to the conclusion that what’s going on is risky and could have some consequencs.

Then the film flashes back to Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) at a Harvard interview for a full scholarship to graduate school. The professor who is conducting the interview explains that Ben’s credentials are off the charts, but they are the same as several other students applying. He goes on to explain that Ben needs to find a way to jump off the page in his essay and truly dazzle the interviewers. Ben leaves without a clue on how to go about the essay. Luckily, an alternative to the scholarship soon presents itself.

Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey), a math professor at MIT where Ben was enrolled, discovers Ben is gifted with numbers. Rosa, incidentally, used to be a high stakes blackjack player and made an inordinate amount of money card counting. He eventually recruits Ben for his “team,” a group of four MIT card counters who go to Vegas every weekend to perfect their skills. Ben joins with the intent of making $300,000 for school then cutting out — but if that were the case the film would be very short. Things get complicated when Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) comes into the picture, determined to catch card counters and save his casino’s money.

The acting is what makes this “true” story believable. Sturgess does a great job hiding his English accent and jumping into a role much different than “Across the Universe” or the “Other Boleyn Girl.” Ben’s humble, dorky attitude makes viewers feel for the character. His friends, Miles (Josh Gad) and Cam (Sam Golzari), provide comic relief and make some of the scenes a lot more fun to watch.

Kevin Spacey does well portraying Rosa as an intimidating, yet down to earth professor. He appears to be a genuine man with honest intentions — to legally earn money using simple math. It turns out, however, that he’s only trying to help himself. Counter to Spacey is Fishburne, who is trying to help the casino and prevent money from being stolen. Fishburne keeps his character in control by not being someone the audience despises, yet still being the guy you don’t want to mess with. Though he’s considered the “bad guy,”  we still respect him and understand where he’s coming from.

Kate Bosworth does a great job as Jill Taylor, a lesser member of Rosa’s card counting team. Jill is a cute, bubbly girl with a past where gambling went awry — but that doesn’t deter her from taking up the hobby. She and Ben make the perfect couple, leaving viewers hoping they work out and make a ton of money in the process. 

“21” is not only a great high stakes gambling movie, it’s also entertaining. It has violence, it’s sexy, it’s risky and, all in all, it’s funny.

 

“21” was written by Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb and directed by Robert Luketic. It recieved three out of four stars.