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21
Movie Stats & Links |
| Starring: |
Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Jim
Sturgess, Laurence Fishburne |
| MPAA Rated: |
PG-13 |
| Released By: |
Columbia Pictures |
| Web Site: |
www.21-movie.com |
| Kiddie Movie: |
Only if you to
turn them into degenerate gamblers. |
| Date Movie: |
If she likes to
gamble in Vegas and doesn't just go there for the shows. |
| Gratuitous Sex: |
Ben and Jill get
it on, but sadly it's PG-13 so her arms cover her boobs.
The group also meets in a strip club, but the girls have
pasties on. |
| Gratuitous
Violence: |
Some some beating
up of people. |
| Action: |
Our heroes do find
themselves running from casino goons through the belly of a
casino. |
| Laughs: |
A chuckle here and
there. |
| Memorable
Scene: |
All I'll say is
the look on a dude's face at the end of the movie. |
| Memorable
Quote: |
Micky to Ben: "I
love a parade, don't you? |
| Directed By: |
Robert Luketic |
| Produced By: |
Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Kevin Spacey |
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21
A Movie Review |
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That’s it. I’m draining my bank account and heading to
Vegas. Yup, I can count, too. Oh wait, they have that crazy
facial recognition software now, don’t they? And, oh yea, I
like to have a cocktail or ten while at the blackjack table.
And, oh yea, they worked in teams. You know what, I guess I
should scrap that idea and just go back to the lottery. "21"
though, a movie loosely based on a group of MIT students who
made a lot of dough in casinos by counting cards at the
blackjack tables, is a lot of fun, if not somewhat
preposterous.
In the movie we get Ben (Jim Sturgess), a student at MIT
who wants to go to Harvard Medical School, only he ain’t got
the money, and he’s banking on getting a free ride
scholarship. When his professor, Micky (Kevin Spacey),
notices that Ben is a math wiz, he figures Ben would make a
good fit into his team of kids who take weekend trips to Las
Vegas beating the casinos at their own game. At first Ben is
hesitant, but since his dream-girl from afar, Jill (Kate
Bosworth), is part of the team, Ben finds himself wrapped
into a world he never came close to dreaming about (you see,
Ben was the typical nerd at MIT, hanging out with his two,
typical nerd friends, concentrating on school and a robot
project instead of hitting on girls). Things are going well
as Ben finds he is great at running a table, Micky loves him
because he’s making him loads of easy money, but then, you
can guess, the lifestyle starts to get to Ben’s head, he
starts to gamble instead of remember the rules, and forgets
that as easy as Micky can make his life in college, he can
also make it miserable. Then of course there is Cole
(Laurence Fishburne), a loss specialist for the casinos, hot
on the trail of our college kids, realizing exactly what
they are up to and probably happy because it means he gets
to beat up somebody.
"21," being the Hollywood take of the actual story, of
course changes a whole bunch of things about the story, but
it’s probably better because the actual story, while
fascinating, would be pretty boring on the big screen. At
its core, though, is the basic concept of using a team to
gaining the upper hand at the tables, though I’m doubting
any of the original team members found themselves running
through the casino kitchen trying to get away from casino
goons.
Jim Sturgess does a nice job of developing the nerdy Ben
into a flashy Vegas high-roller, Kate Bosworth just needs to
be on the screen to make me happy (although an R-rated
version with her naked would be better), and Kevin Spacey is
great in that "I am holier than thou so you will listen to
me or be crushed" role. Some of the flashy effects make the
film look better on the big screen, and the ending was
"Hollywood calculated" for me, but if you’ve got an
afternoon free and ever thought you could beat a casino at
blackjack, the movie pretty much shows you that you have no
chance, so go ahead and split that pair of tens even though
the dealer has a nine showing (I’ve seen it done –
the dude won both hands). It’s 3 ½ stars out of 5 for "21."
That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!!
L8R!!! |
