Entertaining but don't think too much

Rating: 7/10 (31 July 2010)

21 is a movie for which your level of enjoyment will probably depend on how much you actually think about the plot. In this case the less thinking you do the better. Thinking will make you realize very quickly that the film's central characters, reputed geniuses all, do a lot of very stupid things. So don't think about it. Just enjoy the movie for what it is. It's not a particularly smart movie but it is entertaining and sometimes that's enough.
The movie is based on the true-life exploits of the MIT blackjack team. The movie veers quite a distance away from the actual true story but the basic premise remains the same. The two key characters here are Professor Micky Rosa, played by Kevin Spacey, who runs the team and new recruit Ben, played by Jim Sturgess, who joins the team to earn the money he needs for Harvard Med School. As soon as he has enough cash for his tuition Ben is out. At least that's the plan. But we know better than that. Once Ben gets sucked into the Vegas life he's not leaving. Unfortunately, and inevitably, things go awry. So then we get some twists and turns and drama as Ben tries to rescue the situation.
As the movie plays out our team of math geniuses are basically begging to get caught. But if they're not going to face any potential consequences there's really no conflict, no drama, and ultimately no movie. So there's quite a bit of stupidity from the blackjack team. And that stupidity is not limited to their time spent in Vegas. So Ben, when you return to MIT with hundreds of thousands of dollars in cash where are you going to keep all that money? Oh dear, this will end badly. OK, some of the plot contrivances are a little hard to accept. But accept them you must for the movie to move forward. There's enough good here to make you look past the movie's flaws. Sturgess does well with the key role of Ben, creating a compelling and sympathetic character. Spacey is reliably excellent as always. Unfortunately nobody else in the cast adds much. As the required eye candy a film of this type demands Kate Bosworth's character of Jill disappoints. There's no spark, no personality there. When we first see her the MIT geeks build her up to be some sort of goddess but when we actually get to know her it's a letdown. None of the other blackjack team members make much of an impression at all. And in playing an old-school casino enforcer type Laurence Fishburne is little more than a cliché. But despite all that's wrong with it the movie still somehow succeeds. It's well-paced enough to hold your attention throughout. At times, especially in the end, things get a little convoluted but the story works. More or less. As a whole the movie is not quite winner winner chicken dinner but good enough.