21

21 Wins Three Condoms and a Calculator

Does "21" add up?

The Movie Slut thinks not. But she doesn't care.

This frenetic rip-off caper takes us to the neon canyons of Las Vegas where a bunch of smart-assed MIT kids count cards and rake in the moolah. Captained by their evil professor, played by a deliciously diabolical Kevin Spacey, this geek squad zips through the casinos raking in the big bucks, until...

Eeeee! It's Laurence Fisbourne!

Who could resist such dopey fun?

Not The Movie Slut.

See you at the movies, The Movie Slut

21

You know what? I gotta learn how to do that card counting thing.If it means gettig loads of cash and banging Kate Bosworth at the same time, then why not?



So 21.. I like this movie. The film is actually based on true events of 5 MIT kids and how they changed the world of gambling when they found out a way of being able to determine what cards are coming out of the deck using Maths. The movie is about Ben Campbell, a young prodigy wit no life who gets drawn by his professor into the art of card counting. Every weekend, he and a team go to Las Vegas and win massive amounts of cash by card counting. But their winning streak is about to end when the Las Vegas security guys are beginning to figure them out.



But Kevin Spacey is fantastic as always when he plays villains. This man oozes suave from every pore and hits each line perfectly. Not much of a surprise that he was good in this, after all.. he is Kaiser muthafucking Soze!



Something that did bother me is that in the real 21 story, the main character was a Chines guy who also made a cameo as a dealer in the movie. But this is Hollywood and we can't have Chinese guys as the main character so we're just gonna put in Jim Sturgess instead. Yeah he did a great job but they had a Chinese guy in the cast anyway, so why cant they use him to be the main character instead of making his character one of those bumbling sidekicks.



And Laurence Fishburne is great here to. He hasn't had much roles since The Matrix series where he is playing a bad ass. It's nice to see him back playing those characters that are always one step ahead of the others and being one kick ass dude while doing it.



What I didn't like 21 and something they could have done without is all he frat boy humor. Yes this is a movie about college kids but with such great material for them to work around with, why Earth do they think they need to inject some useles teen humor to make the film good?



Oh and Kate Bosworth is hella hot in here. And when you have a movie that's set in Vegas and there's lotso hookers and strippers running around and the only girl you're looking at is Kate Bosworth.. Woo she's one good looking woman.



I can't really think of anything else that can make 21 a better movie.. bu at the same time, I felt that there was more the filmmakers could have done with the material. But yeah 21 is enjoyable, definitely fine to check out in the cinema.

RATING: 6/10

(Read Less...)

NicholasC

21 (2008)

BOTTOM LINE: Given this film is about Black Jack, Vegas, hot women and big money, it comes as a surprise that it's so boring; it lacks any excitement or thrills in its delivery, only leaving an intriguing story that is never worked to its full potential and thus never gets you interested.

THE GOOD: This film is based on the true story of a group of MIT math geniuses who hit Vegas with a card-counting scheme and in the process beat the system and pulled out millions. It's a great place to start and the opening sequences seem to give the indication that we might be in for an exciting ride. The setup of Kevin Spacey and the students is great, especially with the subtle manipulations Spacey uses to rope in his latest member of the card-counting team Ben (Jim Sturgess). Las Vegas looks fabulous in this movie, with a lot of the major sites and a number of major casinos on show. Laurence Fishburne really stands out as the casino tough man who is on to the card-counting, especially when he captures Ben and beats the crap out of him. Kate Bosworth is okay as the love interest, but perhaps the best part is the explanation of the card-counting scheme and how clever these kids were. There's a nice motif running through the film about how gambling and living the high life will end up bringing about your demise, particularly after Ben who wins everything ends up losing it when his ego and emotion get the better of him.

THE BAD: The trailer for this film gave the impression of a classy, sexy, sophisticated thriller with an all-star cast; unfortunately, the main event is a major let down, and is in fact completely and utterly boring. I found myself looking at my watch once or twice throughout the running time. The biggest problem I think is that the film adopts a "going-through-the-motions" feel, and after we get the setup of how the card counting is done, the execution of the deed in the casinos is just flat and uninteresting. You'd want a bit more thrills in the dealing of the cards (just like in Casino Royale), or even just capturing the feeling of being in Vegas and playing on those tables, but alas we get nothing. It's all perfunctory. Spacey, as it turns out, is the villain of the piece, but even the way this story is played out, including Ben's double-cross on him which is only revealed in the climax has a somewhat, "oh yeah... whatever..." feeling to it. This is perhaps the most interesting part of the story but by this point you're so bored out of your brains that it won't register. A major opportunity was wasted in this film to capture the excitement, glamour and fun of a place like Vegas and this film makes the error of not only not doing that, but it overstays its welcome (the running time is around 2 and a half hours).

RATING: 5/10

Todd Murphy <br />
http://www.allaboutmovies.net

21

When will Hollywood learn that watching people play cards is not fun? Their latest attempt to make a card game look exciting is 21, one of the worst movie experiences I have ever had in my life. The story follows Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), a genius MIT student who has just been accepted into Harvard Medical School. But Ben has a bit of a problem. In order to attend the college of his dreams, Ben needs over $300,000. As many of us know, that kind of money isn't very easy to come by. But Ben's prayers might be answered by a higher power in the form of his teacher Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey). Every weekend, Rosa and 4 of his most gifted students go to Vegas and return home hundreds of thousands of dollars richer. Their secret: counting cards. After Ben impresses Rosa by solving a problem that even I knew how to do (and I didn't even go to MIT!), Micky ultimately deduces that Ben must be a genius and therefore he is a perfect candidate to join his blackjack team. After some cliche moments of Ben dipping his feet into the water, he finally decides to jump in the pool and join his teachers squad. But as he begins to feel the highs of winning, will Ben take it too far and end up destroying all that he built up? Of course! If he didn't, they wouldn't have a very interesting movie would they?

Actually, this movie wasn't very interesting anyway. As I watched the first 15 minutes of 21, I had the strongest sensation to pull on my hair, just to ease the pain. Needless to say, I was bored senseless and I was at wit's end trying to find a way to stay awake during this predictable, unentertaining, soporific, mildly moronic hamfest. The plot turns and twists were cliche and easily recognizable 5 minutes before they even happened. The card counting scenes were uninspired and only interesting the first time you view them. But as the movie progresses and you feel as though you are watching the same scene over and over again, you get the strangest feeling that you could have stayed home and watched the World Series of Poker Tournament and had the same amount of excitement. After just one hour of 21, I was ready to count all my chips and just walk away...but my friend was my ride home and he didn't want to leave. Damn him.

Jim Sturgess is absolutely terrible as Ben Campbell. Throughout the entire film, his face remained expressionless, and his voice a near whisper. Even as he did the voiceover, the dynamics of his voice never raised and never fell. It was always the same. The romance between him and fellow teammate Jill, played plainly by Kate Bosworth, was utterly dreadful and often made me cringe at the sheer unconvincing manner in which it is acted out. This is another textbook case of a role going to a person based solely on their looks. Kevin Spacey does a fine job as the teacher Micky Rosa, which is no surprise because Spacey is an excellent actor, and is very capable of creating great moments in bad movies (see Superman Returns). Laurence Fishburne is extremely one dimensional and characterless as the casino's security enforcer. It is also very evident that his role was exaggerated greatly for the sake of the film, as he takes cheaters into a boiler room and beats them to a bloody pulp. I'm pretty sure that in real life, the only authority he has is to politely ask the person to leave.

21 was directed by Robert Luketic, who's previous credits contain Legally Blonde, Win a Date With Tad Hamilton, and Monster In-Law. It isn't exactly the best resume is it? Sadly, he will have to add one more dud to his list of "accomplishments" with this lame excuse for a movie. His overall directing style is lacking and he does very little to keep your interest peaked through even the "exciting" moments of the film. The writing is average and the attempts to wow us by displaying the main characters brilliance fail miserably, making me feel as if I could go to MIT and be just as smart as everyone else.

What makes 21 even worse is the fact that it is way too long. It also doesn't help that every minute of the 123 minutes was boring due to the aforementioned bad acting, directing, and writing. I began to fidget restlessly in my chair thinking the movie was almost over, only to discover that I was only 1 hour in. Ladies and gentlemen, there is a hell, and I was there. 21 was extremely predictable and was so uneventful that I could barely keep my eyes open for the duration. I had gone into this film with very low expectations, and came out discovering I was right on the money about every assumption I had made previous to watching this movie. Jim Sturgess must stick to minor roles because that is all his talent allows for, Kevin Spacey needs to start picking better movies to star in, and Hollywood must stop thinking that movies about playing cards are fun. They suck, just accept it. My rating (3/10)

(Read Less...)