Without ever having read the book,I can sense the egregious bastardization here

Rating: 3/10 (29 August 2008)

I don't recall where or when I heard about some MIT students who'd managed to make a killing counting Blackjack tables throughout Vegas and(I think it was also)Atlatnic City. I'm not even sure it was the book "Bringing Down the House" that was being discussed,but the story that 21 is based off of seemed pretty familiar to begin with. Off the top,the thought of a film on this subject populated by Kevin Spacey,Laurence Fishburne and a promising newcomer named Jim Sturgess seemed to have a lot of promise going for it.
Alas,that was not the case.
One of the cadre of problems I had(And I'm not alone,judging by the many comments and posts along this site) is that this is most certainly and inescapably a morality tale,established practically from the fifteen second mark of the trailer. The seduction of one Ben Campbell(Sturgess,who hopefully will get stronger material in the future)is a fairly plain one: he is,besides being an already gifted student excelling at MIT(of all places),he is a numbers whiz,whose prowess is noticed by a sharp,charismatic professor(Spacey,who's as crisp and interesting in the first half of the film as he is dull and one-dimensional in the second half),who draws him into his team of fellow math whizzes/grifters who routinely go to Sin City and work the Blackjack tables.
The progression of events is pretty darned predictable,as young Ben is able to use his talents to become rich beyond his ambitions(he's of course,saving up for HArvard medical school),fall in love with a fellow student(Kate Bosworth,not very convincing here,but that might be how her part's written)and end up being the quarry of a wiry Casino security chief(LAurence Fishburne,one of the few things that didn't disappoint here)who's seen Ben and his gang there one too many times.
Somehow and for some reason,the makers of this film(including director Robert Luketic,co-writers Allen GArfield and Peter Loeb)decided that to make this film would require making this sexier,sleeker,less steeped in such trivial things as veracity,thoroughness or realism. The end result is something that truly deserved a mid-winter release: full of star power,youth,sound,image,sex(restrained as it is)and at least two chase scenes but a very pedestrian story and payoff underneath. I originally considered seeing this on the big screen;now I'm not even sure if I should've paid money for it on DVD.