Good in certain parts, awful towards the end.

Rating: Null/10 (28 May 2008)

Good god, this is a movie of two halves. The first half is fantastic, I'll be frank here I pretty much loved it. I hadn't read the book, and I might if i ever get the chance, but i REFUSE to acknowledge that i HAVE to read the book to be entertained by a movie. I'm just a regular movie-goer, I knew about "21" from checking out Now Playing, strolled into a theatre and went for a ride. The first half was amazing, the concept was very interesting and keeps you engrossed in. Everyone loves Vegas/gambling movies... the exciting, high-rolling lifestyle, the glamor, the fun. Unfortunately it kind of dropped off near the middle, and completely sank in the end with the textbook Hollywood ending where the hero "learns a life experience" after screwing up. I heard that the script was altered from the book, and judging from the popularity I can only assume the book was really good (and very real), so the screenwriters should really hang.
Seriously, they killed the movie. After the so-called "twists", it just isn't enjoyable anymore because it becomes predictable and there are plot holes that keep popping up and leaving you in a state of What-The-Eff! I can never understand why the hero (I didn't even bother to remember his name) keeps his money stashed in the ceiling of his room. I'm just surprised his cash wasn't bitten to pieces by mice. There were parts so cringeworthy, that I just couldn't give this movie anything higher than a 5 despite some decent entertainment in the beginning. It gets another point deducted because of the AWFUL acting. The hero's so called "acting" is completely wooden, I didn't know there could be someone more wooden than Paul Walker out there. His concept of being ticked off or disgruntled, is pulling a smirk and then turning his head away. What is he, some 13 year old teenage girl who's just been denied by her parents to go to the party? Even poor Kevin Spacey got dragged through the mud, his character acting completely OTT when his favorite student (the hero) messes up once, losing I think most or all of his money that he brought along, but he goes NUTS. Since all the MIT students acted like high school freshmen (immature babies), I'm surprised he wasn't more tolerant. The only characters to get any credit were the two Asian kids, the girl played a steady consistent role, and Aaron Yoo, although not an Oscar worthy performance, he always has his own unique style and he again plays it successfully here, playing the easy going laid-back guy. Wait a minute, then again I can't remember his character doing anything significant during the gambling either. Strange... I thought the original MIT team consisted of mostly Asian-Americans. Hmm. And the jealous kid, I think his name was Fisher, was so bad that the movie didn't even give a shoot about him after he got kicked out. I thought he might come back for revenge or something but no, he's completely irrelevant. Wow. And what about their disguises in the final scene. The textbook Mr.Potatohead spectacles and moustache. Classy.
So all in all, if you don't mind B-grade acting, a cliché storyline and overlooking painfully obvious plot holes just to get a few cheap Vegas thrills, be my guest. I'm just disappointed because it could've been SO MUCH MORE. Using mathematics (card counting) to beat the system in Vegas, it could've been a classic.