Gambling is big business and several movies have dealt with the subject with some of the movies being more popular than others. In the spring of 2008, 21, a movie based on a true story, was released.
Ben Campbell had a perfect grade point average at M.I.T., high scores on important tests, and had been accepted to Harvard Medical School, but the cost of tuition was standing in his way. He was trying to get a scholarship, but all the other applicants were just as deserving as he was. After impressing Professor Mickey Rosa in an advanced math class, Ben was asked to join a blackjack team that Mickey put together. Ben declined at first, but then changed his mind because he saw it as his way to get his tuition for medical school.
Mickey just coached the team and didn’t actually play. The team was made up of four other people beside Ben. Jill, Choi, and Kianna acted as spotters who would single the bigger players - Fisher and Ben - when to join a table. Ben did very good, which caused Fisher to get jealous. Ben started to have trouble balancing the very different aspects of his life, which caused problems between him and his friends. Cole Williams, who had a security firm in Las Vegas that was slowly being replaced by newer technology, spotted Ben and started to piece together what was going on.
21 was based on the book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions by Ben Mezrich which was based on a true story. I haven’t read the book, but from what I have learned about it online, it seems like the book was a fictionalized version of the real events. There was more than one blackjack team and not all of the members were M.I.T. students. Mickey was sort of a composite of three different men who had been involved in the teams. No instructors from M.I.T. were involved in the teams. Mezrich has admitted that only one character in the book was actually based on a real person. He also wrote another book that focused on one of the other teams. I’ve read a few things online that included quotes from some of the real team members who pointed out some specific things that never happened. I’m guessing that most of those things were added to try to add conflict and move the story forward.
The plot for 21 was fairly straightforward and rather simple. A math professor at M.I.T. recruited students to count cards while playing blackjack. Ben only joined the team to get the money to pay for medical school and then was sort of corrupted by the lavish life he led in Vegas on the weekends. There was one thing that happened that I found slightly surprising. Other than that, the movie was very predictable overall. There did seem to be an attempt to add a bit of suspense and even a tiny amount of action that I really didn’t think worked that well. It did seem like the movie went on longer than was needed.
21 got off to a somewhat slow start since time was taken to introduce Ben and set up the situation he was in concerning paying for medical school. That also provided motivation for Ben getting involved in the blackjack team after his initial hesitation. Time was also taken to show some of the preparations the team went through before playing for real in the casinos. Some of the those scenes did drag a bit and could bore some viewers. They used codes and different signals to communicate with each other while playing, some of which were explained. There were several scenes that showed Ben and the other members of the team in Vegas either playing blackjack or celebrating after winning. Unfortunately, some of those scenes did get a bit old since they were basically just showing the same sort of thing over and over. The movie wasn’t as interesting as I had thought it would be.
Ben first spotted Jill and was intrigued by her before he was asked to join the team. Once he joined, they did spend a lot of time together which eventually led to a romantic relationship. The one sex scene in the movie didn’t show much and it really didn’t add anything to the movie either. It had been drilled into them by Mickey to keep emotions out of things while they were in Vegas, so it seemed a bit out of place that they were go and have sex while in Vegas. The whole romance aspect just seemed out of place. That seemed to be the only relationship that developed out of the team. Early in the movie, Mickey made a point of saying how none of the members of the team were supposed to act like they knew other while around Vegas, yet they were shown going around shopping and partying together more than once. That contradiction did bother me a little.
There really wasn’t much development for most of the characters. Ben was the main character and the most time was spent on him. Much of his situation was shared, as well as his motivation for joining the team. He was very gifted and trying to do what he thought was right to pay to medical school. He did make some mistakes along the way. Jim Sturgess handled the part well. Mickey was the math professor who was leading the team. He knew a lot about blackjack and counting cards even though he didn’t play. He also downplayed a few things to Ben, like how the casinos really felt about card counting. Kevin Spacey was good in the part.
Jill was probably developed more than the other members of the team. I think that was only because Ben was attracted to her and a romance eventually developed between them. Even with the small amount of extra attention, she still wasn’t developed that much. There was never an explanation for why she got involved with the team. There wasn’t any depth to her. Kate Bosworth was fine, but nothing special in the part. Fisher was a big player who was jealous of how good Ben was. It seemed like Fisher had been on the team for a while. Choi and Kianna were very flat characters who didn’t do much of anything beyond being spotters. Choi seemed to be a kleptomaniac and Kianna liked slot machines. It would have been nice if they had been developed into fuller characters.
A few of Ben’s friends that he had been working with in a robotic competition were around in a few scenes. They were basically just there to confront Ben about what was going on and to tell him that he had changed. They really didn’t add anything to the movie. Many other college students and employees around Vegas were also shown without any attention being given to them. Cole Williams, the security man, was really the only Vegas character that any time was spent on. He’d been working security there for many years and tended to use older methods to deal with cheaters and card counters. He was very determined to figure out exactly what was going on with Ben. Cole did certain things that did add a bit of tension to the movie, but detracted from him being a believable character. Lawrence Fishburne did well with what he had to work with.
Main Cast
Kate Bosworth - Jill Lawrence Fishburne - Cole Williams Liza Lapira - Kianna Jacob Pitts - Fisher Kevin Spacey - Mickey Rosa Jim Sturgess - Ben Campbell Aaron Yoo - Choi
Robert Luketic - Director
DVD Information
I recently rented 21 on DVD. The disc included a few extras that were somewhat interesting. 21: The Advantage Player featured some of the cast members explaining the basics of blackjack and card counting. That explanation made the counting they were doing in the movie make more sense. Card counting isn’t as complicated as I had thought it was, but it still takes a lot of work and concentration to do. It was said that even if people can successfully count cards, the casinos still have the advantage. Basic Strategy: A Complete Film Journal was a making of featurette that included interviews with the crew and some of the cast. Money Plays: A Tour of the Good Life focused in on all the luxuries that the characters were exposed to through their activities in Vegas. There was also a commentary by the makers that I didn’t listen to.
Overall, 21 was nowhere near as entertaining or good as I had hoped it would be. I think the plot had potential, but it really wasn’t properly handled. Unbelievable situations were added in just to try to make things more suspenseful or tense. The movie moved slowed and was too long for the story it had to tell. Fans of Kevin Spacey might find something to enjoy.
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