21: The Movie (2008)-Eric Smith
May 5, 2008
21: The Movie (2008)
By Eric Smith
I’ve heard this complaint hundreds of times. When people go see a movie, they want to be entertained. They don’t want to do a whole lot of thinking. They don’t want to leave the theater wondering what the hell they just watched or trying to figure what when on during the film. If that’s your case, steer clear of this movie.
The posters and some of the trailers title this movie 21: The Movie. Why "The Movie" subtitle? Is there a TV show called 21 that I don’t know about? I know of 24, but not 21. The book this is based off of is called Bringing Down the House: The Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Why not call it Bringing Down the House? Because it was already used for the 2003 Steve Martin/Queen Latifah comedy? Perhaps. Unfortunately, that’s just the beginning in a long line of questions.
The story focuses on a young M.I.T. student named Ben (Jim Sturgess), who realizes that his dream of getting a scholarship to attend Harvard Medical School is slim, and he has no way of coming up with $300,000. One of his professors, Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) invites him to join his elite gang of five other students, which include Kate Bosworth and Jacob Pitts (whose last major role was the sex-obsessed friend in Eurotrip). They have a system going where they count cards (which we’re informed is not illegal) at the blackjack table, win big, and split the earnings. Sounds cool, right? Well, Ben politely declines at first, but then reluctantly joins on an "Only ’til I have enough" basis. So, we’re sucked into a world where Ben’s narration of talking numbers will more than likely bore the snot of you. Eventually, a security guard at the casino (Laurence Fishburne) who’s really good at spotting counters catches on to their plan. He’s the obligatory tough guy. (No smoking yet he does anyway.)
This film just rolls out the clichés. We get montages, slo-mo shots of will he/won’t he get caught?, slo-mo shots of cards being laid on the green, casino guards beating people. The list goes on and on. Right off the bat, a bunch of questions run through my mind. Why Vegas? It’s like 2,500 miles there. Why not Atlantic City? It’s closer. Fishburne even mentions it to a guy he’s beating the living garbage out of. Why do they always hit the same casino? Don’t they realize that they’d start catching on sooner or later? There’s a bunch of other, high-profit casinos in Vegas. Hit those up as well! Why do we only see Bosworth in a good disguise? Sturgess is always seen as himself (ooh, his hair was combed differently!). Fake IDs will only get them so far. In the end, we’re not entertained, we’re just bored. The cast is attractive, and Spacey and Fishburne are good as always. I’m a fan of blackjack. In fact, it’s the only card game I’m really good at. However, this film almost makes me not want to play it for a while. Almost. There’s an old adage: "Entertain, or be entertained." They didn’t, so I wasn’t, and you can bet on that.
Copyright C. 2008 Eric Smith
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