21

Rating: 5/10 (3 January 2012)

I saw a short television trailer, and it was obvious it was about card playing and gambling, specifically the game Blackjack, or rather 21 like the title, from director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!, Monster-in-Law). Basically young student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) has very high intelligent, and has ambitions to get a scholarship and transfer to Harvard School of Medicine so he can become a doctor, but for four or five years he needs $300,000, which he can't afford. One night he meets Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), an unorthodox math professor, and he joins the teacher's group of fellow students, Jill Taylor (Superman Returns' Kate Bosworth), Choi (Aaron Yoo), Kianna (Liza Lapira) and Fisher (Jacob Pitts). All are being taught by Micky in the skill of card counting in the game of blackjack, using a clever number of hand signals and key words to use during play, and if successful obviously they could make fortunes. Eventually, after some training, Ben and the others are ready to use the techniques they have gained in the real paying casinos of Las Vegas, and naturally the young man is only going to keep going until he has his tuition fee. Jill sees that he is being corrupted by greed and becoming arrogant in the process, and he is also caught out by casino security enforcer Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne), this angers Micky, who Williams has a grudge against. There is the point when there may not be enough to money to go to Harvard for the young man, and no way to get any new blackjack games for high stakes and money, but eventually Ben is welcomed back for one last big con in Las Vegas, and this does go well. Also starring Jack McGee as Terry. Sturgess is okay in the lead role, but of course Spacey and Fishburne are the one you pay the most attention to as they are the big shots of the film, the story is reasonably interesting, the card games are certainly the scenes that grip you as you wonder if they will get away with it, a not bad drama based on a true story. Worth watching!