User Reviews

21 is definitely the major film for the spring time, it has young hot actors, including an incredible academy award winner, Kevin Spacey, and another great actor who's head looks like it grew quite a bit bigger, Lawarence Fishburne. So it has all the key ingredients for a good movie, a decent plot, over all a good combination of actors, and looks like a well put together movie. So I saw it this weekend and I have to say that I was a little disappointed, I think this movie was more for the teenagers, with the actors and the rating, I think it should've been more adult. It was a typical rise and fall story with cliché'd characters. Kevin Spacey, seriously my favorite actor, he's always a dead on hit with every role he takes on, but he seemed to just sleep his way through the film and didn't really care about it. He and new and hot up-comer, Jim Sturgess were not a bad couple on screen, but were not strong enough to hold the story into something original.

Basically we have Ben Campbell who needs $300,000 for Harvard Med. School, he's extremely gifted with numbers, so when his professor, Micky Rosa notices his gifts, he invites Ben with a group of his other students to go to Vegas and play 21. But there is a way to beat the game apparently, by counting cards. Ben promises up and down that it is just for school, but of course when he gets so hot, he takes it way further and ends up making a huge mistake and gets caught with some nasty security guards you don't wanna mess with.

Now 21 has decent enough acting, the movie itself is decent, I didn't mind at all watching it. For the most part, it's the young group of students that keep the movie interesting and keeps your attention. My main problems are for example about the characters Ben and Jill hooking up, I seriously doubt that would happen for real, but for the movie, they want these two hotties to get together at least for the teenage audience's sake. Also supposedly the group says they have to stay on the down low in Vegas so they don't get caught, yet they go around Vegas buying all these new clothes, clubbing, drinking, etc. 21 is worth the watch, but to be honest, if you're reading this, wait for the rental, it's just a regular rise and fall story.

6/10

Let me begin by saying that I haven't read the book this movie is "based on" so I went in with no pre-conceived expectations. I enjoyed the movie, it was definitely worth a night at the movies however, I had some major issues with it that really detracted from my viewing enjoyment and yes, I know it's just a movie, but when things occur in a movie that's based on actual events that yank me out of the flow of the plot that's a problem. Things that jumped out at me were; The main character is supposed to be a genius and yet he hides over $300,000 in his ceiling?? No one is that stupid. Especially since there was no need for him to hide it at all; he won it gambling in Vegas, where gambling is legal, hello? He would have had to pay taxes on it but all he had to do was declare it as gambling winnings and open a bank account, or better yet, a short term CD to earn some interest. What did he plan to do, drop $300,000 in cash on the Dean of Admissions desk at Harvard Medical School? That would have gotten the IRS down on him in a heartbeat. It just didn't make any sense and was an incredibly stupid and unbelievable move.

The group was counting cards which is not illegal but will get you banned from any casino that catches you. I would think they would have wanted to keep a very very low profile so they didn't attract attention. Wasn't that why they wore disguises? And yet, they stayed in suites, walked into the casinos greeting everyone by name like high rollers, they did everything they possibly could TO call attention to themselves. Again, it just didn't make any sense.

Vegas casino's are all owned by major corporations these days, the days of the mob running the casinos are long over. Casino security does not beat people up over counting cards anymore, they haven't for a very long time. They escort you off the property and ban you and that's all. The main character could have filed a complaint with the Nevada Gaming Commission (because again, he hadn't done anything illegal), and the casino would have had a lot of questions to answer.

The main character's mother offers him a check for $68,000 for medical school, telling him that she's been saving it for years for him so he could go to medical school. So she obviously didn't pay for MIT if she's been saving for years for this, how did he pay for MIT? I assumed he'd gotten scholarships but they never tell you one way or the other.

Kevin Spacey's character steals his money and is going to see that he doesn't graduate, huh? Again, the main character hasn't done anything illegal, other than not declaring his winnings and paying taxes on them. On the other hand, I can't help feeling that the powers that be at MIT would take a very dim view of one of their professors acting the way Spacey's character did. All our hero had to do was go to them and spill his guts, I'm sure he could have gotten at least one or two of the others to back him up, probably the guy Spacey had already bounced from the team. He also could have gone to the police and reported the theft of the money in his room, OK, so he would have been in a little hot water with the IRS, but he would have kept at least a large portion of the cash.

Casinos don't usually comp luxury suites to big winners, more often to big losers so they'll keep coming back. They want the big winners to go elsewhere. And we're back to the low profile thing again.

There are a great many casino's in Vegas, if your trying to get away with counting, why would you go back to the same one (the Hardrock) again and again? Those are just the ones that come to mind at the moment. Again, I did enjoy the movie, but my enjoyment was tempered by the things I've listed above that were, in the end, kind of an insult to the viewers intelligence.

The true story of six MIT kids who try to fleece Vegas is embellished to say the least in "21." There's lots of added drama, a heap of unintentional campiness, plot twists you can see coming down the Strip, and a love story thrown in for the hell of it. This flick was made for the MTV set...the mechanics of how these kids actually count cards to beat the system is explained quickly but not well. I'm probably an idiot (and I haven't read the book upon which the movie is based) but I still don't get it. This movie makes the "how" not really matter anyway. Why explain boring old math when you can have montages of our ethnically diverse group of spoiled geniuses bar hopping and shopping at Louis Vuitton? If you've seen the trailers than you know 21...there are no surprises here. There is a long running time that makes the last 30 minutes of the film agonizing. There's a few ham-fisted plot twists and double crosses and I kept expecting the movie to end...then WHAM, another scene of our lead character back at the tables in a cheesy disguise and more slow motion shots of the dealer flipping cards.

Sturgess is barely passable as Ben...he doesn't quite have the magnetism to pull off the various emotional shadings required of the role. There are parts where he underplays emotion and parts where he overplays them...he never really finds a medium. "21" would have been great ten years ago; give me Giovanni Ribisi in the Ben role and you have something cooking. But Sturgess is pretty blah...so is Kate Bosworth, who looks a lot like Priscilla Presley and nothing like a college student. The only two actors worth a damn here are Spacey, the acerbic ringleader of the young card counters, and the underused Jacob Pitts, who helps recruit Ben into the group.

21 does well to show the all-night-long decadence of Vegas, and there are some beautiful shots of the Strip at night. Otherwise the flick is by-the-numbers garbage.

I enjoyed the movie because it was entertaining all the way. It was slick and had interesting characters. The only problem was the last half of it where credibility when flying out the window. The movie is all about supposedly very intelligent people, led by the smartest of the all the group, the only veteran in this college age-dominated cast: "Professor Mickey Rosa," played by Kevin Spacey. Well, Rosa would not do what he did here, for starters, meaning trusting an untrustworthy and revenge-seeking kid. If you've seen the movie you know what I mean. The others in the group wouldn't go along with the renegade - "Ben Campbell" (Jim Sturgess) - either. There is no way this kid is going to totally outsmart the professor, but it makes for good Hollywood dramatics.

There are a bunch of other holes, too, such as wanting to be anonymous but going back to the same place; a ridiculous chase scene through the casino gambling area and kitchen; hand signals that a junior detective could see (and are never changed!) and - maybe the worst - winning tons of money in sessions. Nobody with half a brain would win much at any session, because it draws attention. You win a little here, a little there and go from place-to-place and remain anonymous. This movie is based on a true story, and I can guarantee you that's what the MIT students did in real life - not what you see here.

Still, facts aside, it's still a fun movie to watch and since entertainment is the name of the game with films, it succeeds and I still give it an "8" star rating for that. At no time was I bored and overly insulted at the dumbness that I would have stopped playing the DVD. It will hold your interest and you'll be thoroughly entertained, especially if you don't know a lot about blackjack and how casinos operate.

Oh, as a postscript: they don't beat up "card counters" in back rooms of casinos. If they think you are counting cards, which I don't believe is illegal, they still have the right to kick you out of their establishment.....but they ask you nicely and you are removed from the floor with no big scene or violence. They have your picture, there are security people everywhere, and you aren't allowed back.

So, enjoy the film but don't believe the screenplay.

The movie was good but awfully familiar....In fact, living in Canada, there was a film called "The Last Casino" starting Charles Martin Smith as a University Professor who assembled a team of his brighter students and taught them how to count cards playing Black Jack. While certainly there were differences between the two films, I couldn't help but get the feeling I'd seen it all before. I did enjoy the acting of Jim Sturgess as the main character, and Kevin Spacey was chillingly evil. Kate Bosworth was good, but mostly eye candy. Laurence Fishburne had a good role as a Security consultant at the casino. I have to admit, the scenes where Jim Sturgess was showing his mind worked while counting the cards was ingenious. It gave the feeling that everything was slowed down and he could interpret the cards in a leisurely fashion, while in fact it was probably happening at break neck speed. The ending was satisfying.

This movie was based on a true story, and if the makers had stuck closer to the true story it could have been a much better movie. But no, they had to Hollywoodize it and dumb it down so that anyone with the least knowledge of the game of blackjack and how casinos operate will be saying "No way" to themselves all through the movie. It actually ends up with a chase scene and characters running through the kitchen, for God's sake.

In real life the team's success was 90% in being careful to not attract the attention of the casinos detectors and only 10% in their scheme, which was based on the well-known technique of card-counting to get an edge. In the movie, the team's actions were childishly crude even to the point of continually returning to the same casino...so the movie makers could develop the characters of the casino bad guys. In real life the team was careful to not win much at any one table or at any one casino, not more than $1,000 a session, which would be well within the amount any lucky player might win without counting. In the movie they hit the same table for tens of thousands of dollars, which would have set off alarms all over Nevada. Even the hand signals the team used in the movie were childishly obvious. All this by the supposedly brilliant MIT students and professor. No way.

The movie actually had the bad casino guys torturing card counters when they caught them. No way. In real life a casino has the right, tested in court, to kick anyone out and ban them from ever playing again...they do not have to prove cheating or card-counting, they do it under the laws of trespassing on their private property and this is what they do. Remember, card-counters are only making what amounts to an hourly wage, so they are not a serious threat to a casino.

Another example of the Hollywood treatment was that after showing how brilliant Ben was at counting cards when they were recruiting him, he was not used as the card counter, he was used as the big bettor and one of the female team members did the counting.

an entertaining movie for someone not knowledgeable or much interested in real life casino gambling, but dumb and dumber for those who are.

I suppose the first time I saw a preview for 21 was probably close to 7 months ago, so I did know there was a film coming out and it looked fairly interesting. Since I am getting around the age of being able to gamble and go to vegas, it was nice being able to see the scene of vegas in an up-to-date movie! I love the characters, and im sorry the Asian kid.. haha all I could think of was disturbia ringtone.. HAHA!

I loved the way Kevin Spacey played the whole good guy, bad guy role.. It was nice seeing him in a role like this, simply because I relate him back to Pay it Forward, and I believe that this is a great role for his personality. The main character does a great job really showing the struggles that college students do face everyday. Though most of us cannot say that we have a 4.0 at MIT and are awaiting money to attend Harvard, I can personally relate to the financial struggle college does bring to myself personally. Maybe I should go card count!??

Once you started to pay attention I really began figuring out the true meaning behind card counting and it really is very simple, with the word connection to the card value. As for the gestures, they were a big out there, and I really think that Vegas PD would catch on to the whole arm behind the back thing 10 times quicker, simply because it is such a drastic move.

The movie is great, and I personally loved it because it played out the roles of each of the characters and came to a conclusion with all of them. Sorry, but it was nice seeing what happened to Spacey at the end. :]

7 out of 10! Go see this film!

21 had huge plot holes, (why did Cole, the casino man, send his henchmen after Ben if they were actually working together all along?) it had terrible morals, (at the end it turns out that the whole gang will keep cheating anyway), the acting was choppy, and it glamorized Vegas, casinos and strip clubs like they're the best things in the world. Please don't see this movie, because if its successful, they'll make a sequel or a remake or something, and the movie fans of the world deserve better than this rubbish. And in case I wasn't clear, it isn't terrible as a film but it had evil morals. Don't don't don't don't don't see it, I made the mistake of going, don't make that mistake.

21 certainly won't go into my books as the most intelligent or deep movie I've ever seen, in fact as far as Hollywood films go 21 is about as shallow as they come. They stack the cast with some big names, flashy romance, the latest fad...in this case cards...Blackjack to be exact, and people will come out in droves to see it. Now there was a Canadian made film about this same story entitled "The Last Casino" (see my review) and if you ever get a chance to see it definitely check it out because it's one of the better Canadian movies I've seen and it also actually is much smarter and more artistic than 21 but tells the nearly identical story. Still 21 has some key elements going for it including a new hot lead actor that is very talented, a big budget, fun with cards, a half decent story and a little romance thrown in to boot. It just won't have you walking away feeling any smarter or better about life and that's okay as long as it entertains.

Latest It Boy Jim Sturgess following his success in Across The Universe plays math genius Ben Campbell. Sturgess has this definite quality about him that I predict will make him an absolute star and big movies like this definitely help and he already has a recognizable face. He is very energetic and really shines on screen and he is just someone you relate to and can watch him in this adventure plus he gets to show some emotion and probably the only character with depth in the film. Kevin Spacey is the powerhouse of the film or at least he's supposed to be. I mean in all fairness he does well as the leader of their gambling group and a University professor but he doesn't do as much with the part as I would have thought. He doesn't really grip you as much as he could have considering the man can act and is a legend in his own right. Kate Bosworth is lovely but in all honestly I found her downright boring in this film. She does little to nothing other than look cute and be a romantic interest for Sturgess' character which I thought the entire romance felt forced anyways although they had decent chemistry. Fellow team members Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira are practically non existent as the entire film focuses almost entirely on the three of the main big actors which is unfortunate for them. Someone who does stand out from the rest though is larger than life Laurence Fishburne as an aging security agent for Casinos. He is really great in the role and makes an awesome anti-hero to the story.

The cast is decent although no one really is mind blowing but that could be because of the rather lack luster script. You know a twist is coming and you're trying to figure it out as you go but even if you don't figure it out the twist doesn't really shock you or anything. Basically what I am saying is that millions will see 21 and probably enjoy it and I don't disagree with them. The film is fun but it's just not something that will stick with you for very long. It's Hollywood fodder made to make money and it will likely do that but don't expect it to be a time lasting classic or anything. But check it out and see for yourself. 7/10

I was intrigued by the preview of 21 because I'm a sucker for films about gambling, and this is a film about gambling ~ it's the director/writers gambling with our intelligence, hoping we're completely devoid of brainpower, which would make us stupid enough to buy any of the claptrap we see on screen in this bonafide turkey.

The beginning is good, it's only when the true fun should be starting - when Ben starts going to Vegas as part of the blackjack team headed by Micky (Kevin Spacey) - that the movie begins to seriously fall apart.

Vegas is a huge town, with literally hundreds of casinos, but these clowns wind up going back to the SAME casino, over and over, using the SAME signals to one another (their ridiculous signal to indicate a hot table, for instance), until it's more than blatantly obvious to the security overseer, Laurence Fishburne, that these stooges are playing a very dangerous - and stupid - game.

The story then continues on its deathtrail of stupidity, with the storyline and the characters' behavior becoming more and more ridiculous until Ben - duhhhh - loses Everything and has to - double duhhhh - find a way to outsmart Micky (a 2-year-old could outsmart this guy) and get his life back together. The way it's done is even stupider than what proceeds it, what with Ben luring Micky back to the SAME casino for one last shot at the Big Money. "They'll know us there," Micky says, "So we'll have to wear disguises." Oh yeah, genius - a cowboy hat and fake mustache really make Spacey look like a totally different person (not), and even stupider --- they show up using the SAME signals that they've used all along; yes, these giboneys are that dumb.

Then, to insult the audience even further, the writers tack on what they believe, in their deluded states, to be a double surprise ending. By this time, the only surprise is that anyone is still left in the movie theatre.