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Filmmaker commentary
“21 – The Advantage Player” Cast of the film explains the strategy behind blackjack and the basics of card counting (5:30)
“Basic Strategy: A Film Journal” – Making-of documentary (26:00)
“Money Plays: A Tour of the Good Life” – A look at the clothes, luxuries and locations featured in the film (7:30)
Previews
An unconvincing exercise in moral complexity, 21 is based on Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) plays brilliant, blue-collar scholar Ben Campbell, whose doubts that he'll win a scholarship to Harvard Medical School compel him to join a secret, M.I.T. gang of math whiz kids. Under the silky but chilling command of a math professor (Kevin Spacey), Jim and the others master card counting, i.e., the statistical analysis of cards dealt in blackjack games. The team lives a humdrum existence during the week, but on weekends in Sin City, the students are rolling in cash, going to exclusive clubs, and feeling on top of the world. (Ben even gets the girl: a comely, fellow counter played by Kate Bosworth.) Despite all that success, Ben feels ethically compromised, and indeed director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde), in the old tradition of American movies, plays it both ways where fun vices are concerned. On the one hand, it feels so good; on the other, ahem, we know it's wrong. That studied ambivalence proves wearing after a while, making the most interesting character in the film a casino watchdog played by Laurence Fishburne. A master at reading the emotions of gamblers beating the house with a scam, he's admirable for being good at his job, but repellent for wrecking the faces of counters in casino dungeons. He's all about moral complexity in the tradition of anti-heroes, and a truly provocative element in an otherwise superficial movie. --Tom Keogh
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
Geeks can be high rollers too!,
By
This review is from: 21 (Special Edition) (DVD)
"24" is a film based loosely upon real events which involved a group of M.I.T. math students who under the tutelage of their professor (played brilliantly by Kevin Spacey) mastered the art of card counting and in the process went on to win millions at the Black Jack tables in Vegas.The first 45mns or so of the film are set in Boston where we get to know the characters and how they slowly learn their art. Kevin Spacey's performance dominates the film as the shrewd professor. Unfortunately the other characters are not nearly as engaging. The lead just isn't a great actor and Kate Bosworth only does an adequate job. The other math students are pretty cardboard-cutout characters. The pacing of the film is pretty good and we are delivered a pleasing, if surprising finale. A pretty decent film overall, but this ain't gonna go down as no classic. Worth a rental.
4.0 out of 5 stars
Card Counting Uni Students,
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This review is from: 21 (Single Disc Version)Bilingual (DVD)
21 - a group of MIT students - brainiacs hone their skills in card counting on back jack and go to Las Vegas to make big money to pay their fees!The movie is inspired by a true story how a statistics professor recruits his students gang to take the big boys for a ride - all goes well until things get get close. Some good twists and turns in the movie, though inevitably things spiral out of control as the house always win.
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