Taking Las Vegas by card-counting.

Rating: Null/10 (30 September 2008)

It is important to realize that card-counting is NOT illegal, but casinos really don't care for people who do it because it skews the odds in their favor, and a casino can lose big.
Inspired by a true story of MIT students who did this, the movie has a very nice feel to it. Brit Jim Sturgess comes across much like Toby Maguire here, as Ben Campbell, serious student who is trying to get into MIT Medical school, but can't afford it unless he gets a grant. Ben also happens to be a natural math genius.
One of Ben's professors is Kevin Spacey as Prof. Micky Rosa. When Mickey sees first-hand how Ben's mind works, he gets to recruiting him to join a small group that works hard in off-hours to master a card-counting technique. Then, they take their skills to Vegas on weekends and win lots of money.
At first Ben wants no part of it. But a girl he already had his eye on, the prettiest girl at MIT, Kate Bosworth as Jill Taylor helps in the recruiting effort. Eventually Ben is hooked.
The movie does a good job of switching between the rather boring academic lifestyle at MIT and the swinging glitz of Vegas.
The fly in their ointment becomes Laurence Fishburne as Cole Williams, who works for the casino as a "loss control" expert. He soon gets onto the trail of Ben and the others.
Good, suspenseful movie. The ending is sort of "forced", but my wife and I enjoyed it.
SPOILERS: Ben is doing great but at one point gets sucked into the glamour of the moment and goes against their own rules and loses $200,000. Since Mickey is in for 50% of everything, he sees this as his money, and demands that Ben pay it all back. But Ben is saving his winnings for $300,000 that medical school will cost. Micky is a poor loser and steals the money Ben had stashed above his dorm bed in the ceiling. But Ben gets the last laugh, luring Mickey to Vegas one more time, where a trap had been set for Cole to capture him. And the basic outcome had Mickey obligated to restore all Ben's grades, and in the end it appeared Ben would get the grant to pay his medical school.