by Thomas Ferguson

I hate it when critics use two movies to describe another movie in a synopsis. It is so “Hollywood” to say, “It was blank meets blank.” For example, it was Rounders meets Good Will Hunting. Unfortunately, I wasn’t impressed with either of those films, nor was I impressed with the new drama they are remarkably similar to…21.

Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is an M.I.T. undergrad desperately trying to get into Harvard Med School. The problem...he has no money and the scholarship he has applied for doesn’t seem obtainable.

Ben is the smartest person in all of his classes. One of those classes is taught by Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), a slick-tongued professor who can seduce with mere words. Seeing Ben’s mathematical talent, Micky recruits him for his six student team. This team travels to Vegas to win big against the casinos. They use a unique style of counting cards to win thousands of dollars. Thousands of dollars Ben needs to secure his future as a doctor.

The high roller lifestyle transforms this once math geek into a player in more ways than one. He neglects his true friends and lives the crazy life of parties, penthouse suites, and girls. One girl in particular, fellow card shark Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth) has stolen his heart, but its casino thug Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) who may break his neck. Cole knows the score and threatens to bring down Micky’s operation, thus destroying Ben’s dream of going to Harvard.

21 is one of those movies that put you on that proverbial fence. Part of me liked this movie. The other part had serious issues with it. I’ll begin with the positive. Director Robert Luketic has a very visual eye and it translated into an interesting MTV style. Loads of slow motion shots and close ups of poker chips and playing cards. It was exciting for the first twenty times, but became distracting. I also liked the progression of the main character Ben. His transition to casino stud was quite interesting. The ending was also very strong and tied the story up in a neat little bow.

My problem list was much more substantial. First off, I complain about this time and time again, but predictability really bothers me. I knew how this would end up. Although I was right, the ending still satisfied. The other characters bothered me though. Bosworth seemed a bit too old for this part. Spacey and Fishburne were way over the top. The secondary characters like Ben’s best friends were clichés at best. The humor was too cheeky and seemed spoon fed. I got the humor, I just didn’t want it. The writers should take a class on writing for young adults with Diablo Cody, writer of Oscar-winning screenplay Juno. The movie seemed to drag after awhile. Trimming 15 minutes off the final running time may have helped.

Basically, this movie seemed a bit unrealistic. A real shame considering the fact that it was based on a true story.