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Rating: 6/10 (30 June 2008)

When I saw the trailers, I got interested in seeing the movie. I found the concept quite good. I read its reviews in the Amsterdam Weekly, which were not so great, so I was in two minds  but still decided to go and see the movie. The story is based on true event.
Ben Campbell (Jim Strugess) is brilliant in his academics, and aspires to be at the Harvard Medical School, but does not have USD 300K for fees. Prof. Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) comes to Ben's rescue when he knows Ben's expertise with numbers. Micky picks Ben along with a team of four other students. He trains them to master the computations that would surely help win the game of Black Jack at the Las Vegas casinos. Things work in the beginning, but once Ben makes an error and looses money, Micky abondons the team. Ben and the team try out things on their own, but Casino Manager - Cole Williams (Lawrence Fishburne) finds out the trick and beats Ben up. Micky takes away all Ben's savings, de-grades him in his classes. Ben without any choice  approaches Micky to join hands for one last time and have a BIG go to get back the lost money. Micky agrees and the rest forms the end of the movie. Will they succeed?
The movie has an interesting premise. Ben Campbell though has acted well, does not fill life and soul into the role, nor does his chemistry work with the heroine of the movie Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth). Whenever Kevin Spacey or Lawrence Fishburne are on the screen, the story becomes more intense. So there is a patchiness in the way the story moves  with jerks of interest and boredom. But in the last twenty minutes the movie catches up with the missed opportunities and finally I felt quite okay and satisfied with the movie.
Australian born young director Robert Luketic does a decent job in the movie. I think a bit of good editing could have reduced the time by 15-20 minutes.
I think this movie would be liked and enjoyed by school and college going students more, as there are sub-plots, topics of money and images that might interest them.
Overall above average 6.25 rating out of 10.