Math Genius Gone Awry

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2008)

It is not so common that we come across a movie about a math genius. Of course, there was "A Beautiful Mind" and "Good Will Hunting," now comes another one. "21" is the story of Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), an MIT math nerd who wanted to go into Harvard Medical School. However, being poor, he needed to come up with $300,000 for him to get through med school. Opportunity presented itself when his math professor Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) noted his skills and recruited him to join their blackjack card counting group. This group would go to Vegas in the weekends, make a killing at the blackjack tables by employing pre-arranged signals, code words and card counts, and go back to school on Monday as if nothing happened. Of course, you know that with schemes like this, happy days will not be forever.
I liked the movie very interesting. I did have to gloss over the fact that I honestly did not understand any of the card counting techniques they were using. What on earth does is mean if the card count is "+17" or "+15"? In any case, I liked the character arc of Ben Campbell and the predicaments he was in. I knewthere would be retribution at the end, and I liked the fact that this part of the movie was not cut and dry. There was still a lot of suspense and unexpected developments.
Jim Sturgess, though I have never seen him before, played his role very well, as the shy intellectual turned blackjack high bidder. Kate Bosworth, while gorgeous, looked too old to be his love interest. She did not look like her Lois Lane character here, but she also does not look credible as an MIT rocket science student. Kevin Spacey played his role quite efficiently as always. It was a bit of a stretch to believe how an MIT professor can run this "business" while having a record in Vegas back in his heyday as a card hustler as well, and still keep using his real name.
Overall, I found this very interesting and a movie worth watching. It is even more interesting to find out that this was actually based loosely on a true story!