rating:
(out of
4 stars)United States; 2008
Directed by Robert Luketic; produced by Dana Brunetti, Michael De Luca, Kevin pacey; screenplay by Peter Steinfeld, Allan Loeb
Starring Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Laurence Fishburne
The problem with '21', based on real events, is the constant feeling of screenwriter intervention. The film does not become bad, but feels forced to ridiculous scenes and a Hollywood conclusion. Films set in (Las Vegas) casinos are often exciting and bring something extra to the material, but here only partially. Again filmmaker intervention should be blamed; most scenes on the black jack table exist out of montages instead of real scenes.
The story is about counting cards by M.I.T. students, under supervision of professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), once a card counter himself. The film shows the techniques used to take huge sums of money from the casinos, which is the more exciting part. The Hollywood clichés follow after the fame and glory, when people forget there is no "I" in "team". Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) falls victim to this, which is really hard to believe after the first part of the film.