21 (Sony Pictures)
Not A Sure Bet
21 is a movie about gambling. In real life gambling is exciting; on movie screens it generally is not. Watching cards being dealt is about as entertaining as watching paint dry. So wisely the makers of this movie concentrate on the story behind the gambling and not the gambling itself. They tell the tale, based on a true story, of five students and their mentor who take on the casinos of Las Vegas.
Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is a human calculator. His mind just works that way. He has his heart set on attending Harvard medical school but tuition at MIT has sapped his funds and that of his single mother. He needs three hundred thousand to pay for the next few years of school (can you believe that).
Enter Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) a professor at MIT and a man with a plan. He collects his brightest students and uses them to beat the odds at the 21 tables in Vegas. He does it with hand signals, key words and counting cards. Counting cards is not illegal but if you get caught you will be banned from the casinos for life.
Cole Williams (Laurence Fishbourne) is a security guard at one of the casinos. He studies the video cameras looking for card counters, etc. It is he who becomes suspicious of Ben and his cohorts.
Since this is a movie there has to be romance of sorts so one is contrived (or that is how it feels) between Ben and one of the members of the team, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth). He has long worshipped her from afar and them being selected for Rosas crew gives them a chance to relate.
The movie is rated PG-13 for profanity and violence.
Chances are you got to know Burgess through the film Across the Universe. In that movie he used his natural British accent. In this one he is one hundred per cent Yank. He looks and acts the part of an American college student with total believability.
There is a touch of suspense in the film, as well as that hint of romance. Still the enjoyment of the movie is going to come from how much you like Ben and are excited about his chance at winning big. All of the other characters dont really matter; it is the audiences relationship to Ben that will make the film a hit or a miss. The odds are it could go either way.
I scored 21 a dealt 5 out of 10.
