A Solid, Basic Crime-Drama

Rating: 5/10 (15 January 2013)

This film is about a mathematical whiz-kid who is convinced to join a college professor and 4 other brilliant students from M.I.T. in an attempt to win big money gambling in Las Vegas. Now, although technically legal, counting cards is a serious issue in the casinos with equally serious consequences. So the students are taking an extreme risk and have to be extremely careful not to get caught. Anyway, that's the basic plot of the film. I thought Jim Sturgess (as "Ben") and Kevin Spacey (as "Professor Micky Rosa") both did creditable jobs. Likewise, I thought Lawrence Fishburne (as "Cole Williams") performed in an adequate manner as well. Additionally, although Kate Bosworth (as "Jill") was definitely attractive I thought the romance between her and Ben lacked passion. That said, while I enjoyed the film there was nothing really remarkable about it. In short, it was a solid, basic crime-drama worth a look if you enjoy movies of this type.