"Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" and a strange lesson learned

Rating: 9/10 (19 July 2010)

In "21" Ben, a bright young student (Jim Sturgess) with an amazing memory for numbers is approached by his teacher (Kevin Spacey) on a big plan: go to Las Vegas to make money by counting cards on Blackjack. The teacher has a whole team of students along with him, and they will help Ben in the plan by making signs and codes. Why Ben joined the team? Because he wants to go to Harvard Medicine School and he doesn't have money, and even with an excellent background and many extracurricular activities the director is not impressed. So in order to get a scholarship he needs to convince the man that he has a impressive life experience to dazzle him. I'm sorry...did I just delivered the whole thing and ruined the experience for you? Sorry my bad!
I haven't read the book in which Robert Luketic's movie is based or even haven't heard about the real life story in which this was based but I can say that it's a very good film about how money and education always are walking on the same side.
For someone who lives in a third world country this movie doesn't make no sense for one can think: Or you born rich, pay for your studies until high school and then go to a public college, without paying but getting a good education, and then get rich otherwise you're gonna be locked in the lousy public school system during high school and then paying for a college degree and having a mediocre formation. That's how it sounds for those who live in countries like Brazil. And what's the connection between the movie? Everything!
Ben is only doing the counting thing in Vegas because he wants to go to a prestiged college, it's his dream, even that his already studying at MIT. He's smart, hard working, but he's attracted to other things while "gambling" such as women, money, fun, all things he didn't have with his nerd friends at MIT. He dreams big and knows exactly what he wants and that's great but here's a real tragedy bigger than to be beaten by the security staff of the casino: Ben is good with numbers so why he can't think about millions of people that won't have what he's get so far and be happy with it? It's not mentioned in the film why medicine is so important to him, if at least he said that in the future he would work for Doctor Wihout Borders and go to a foreign country where the health system is poor, okay I would get it and I would be more favorable to his character. That's not the case.
And even with all the "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner" cheered throughout the movie, and all that fun of playing like a hot shot in Vegas what was the lesson that the director in Harvard (played by Jack Gilpin) gave to Ben in the end? That if you participates of a little and innocent scheme to make money, deceiving his family and his true friends and even making a strange deal with his mentor (and deceiving him too in the end) you really can impress Harvard and be welcome to be a doctor! We're talking about medicine, folks, the most ethical of the professions and that's how Ben finally entered in by coming clean with a fraud? This took a lot of credibility of the pursuit for a good education theme.
Despite these criticism it's a quite enjoyable, thrilling and interesting movie. Well acted by the incredible cast (Sturgess is fascinating; Spacey efficient as usual), and directed with a fast good rhythm by Robert Luketic "21" is a must see film for those who enjoy stories with a difficult mission to achieve. It has a great soundtrack too. In the very last scene it starts to play Rolling Stones's "You can't always get what you want" which is ironic considering that Ben talks about several things he missed and gained, and it seems that he didn't lose anything. 9/10