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List Price: $14.94 | | Label: Sony Pictures
Salesrank: 191
Released: July 22, 2008 |
| Our Price: $3.78 |
| Used Price: $0.50 |
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MPAA Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Media: DVD |
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Editorial Review:
Inspired by the true story of MIT students who mastered the art of card counting and took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. Looking for a way to pay for tuition, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) finds himself quietly recruited by MIT's most gifted students in a daring plot to break Vegas. With the help of a brilliant statistics professor (Kevin Spacey) and armed with fake IDs, intelligence and a complicated system of counting cards, Ben and his friends succeed in breaking the impenetrable casinos. Now, his challenge is keeping the numbers straight and staying one step ahead of the casinos before it all spirals out of control.
Description of 21 (Single-Disc Edition):
An unconvincing exercise in moral complexity, 21 is based on Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) plays brilliant, blue-collar scholar Ben Campbell, whose doubts that he'll win a scholarship to Harvard Medical School compel him to join a secret, M.I.T. gang of math whiz kids. Under the silky but chilling command of a math professor (Kevin Spacey), Jim and the others master card counting, i.e., the statistical analysis of cards dealt in blackjack games. The team lives a humdrum existence during the week, but on weekends in Sin City, the students are rolling in cash, going to exclusive clubs, and feeling on top of the world. (Ben even gets the girl: a comely, fellow counter played by Kate Bosworth.) Despite all that success, Ben feels ethically compromised, and indeed director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde), in the old tradition of American movies, plays it both ways where fun vices are concerned. On the one hand, it feels so good; on the other, ahem, we know it's wrong. That studied ambivalence proves wearing after a while, making the most interesting character in the film a casino watchdog played by Laurence Fishburne. A master at reading the emotions of gamblers beating the house with a scam, he's admirable for being good at his job, but repellent for wrecking the faces of counters in casino dungeons. He's all about moral complexity in the tradition of anti-heroes, and a truly provocative element in an otherwise superficial movie. --Tom Keogh
Beyond 21
On Blu-ray | 
Read the book 21 was based on | 
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Stills from 21 (click for larger image)
21 (Single-Disc Edition) Reviews:
a poker movie like no other 
2009-10-08 - this movie is awesome kevin spacy rocks. this movie is really good. it's a must see
Entertaining Film, however a bit predictable! 
2009-09-19 - A Brilliant student from MIT strives hard to join Harvard Medical School. He doesn't have the required tuition money to join Harvard and as a result has only 2 options, either earn a difficult scholarship or arrange USD 300,000 to pay the tuition.
In one of his Math classes, he impresses his teacher with his mathematical logic. Later on he is invited to join a secret gambling team led by his Math teacher that travels every weekend to Las Vegas and win lots of cash. This student accepts the invitation for the sake of having enough money to join Harvard Medical School.
This movie is quite a long one, but because it was entertaining we didn't feel the time.
It reminded me of Ocean's Eleven.
Unfortunately the fate of Kevin Spacey and the student at the end was very predictable.
The Story Is Great, the Film Is Disappointing 
2009-09-07 - A fact-based drama "21" should have been much more engaging than it is. There is potential for more thought-provoking drama or more intelligent thriller, but somehow the filmmakers failed to notice that, making the whole story very superficial. "21" tries to satisfy all the viewers with its "neat" ending. It shouldn't have. It has ruined one of the most interesting real-life stories I've ever heard.
The story is this: "Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions" by Ben Mezrich" upon which the film is based. I was intrigued by the story (the book title says it all), which seemed so interesting. However, the film was a huge disappointment.
While the script of "21" starts promisingly enough, with a struggling MIT student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) who is recruited to join a team of gifted students, the film soon loses grip and disintegrates into a preachy, humorless melodrama. Kevin Spacey appears as a charismatic MIT professor organizing the team of students, who fly to Las Vegas and make money using the "card counting" skills. His slightly mysterious character interests us at first, but soon slips back into a predictable role in a typically Hollywood fashion.
So what went wrong? It is the script. Somewhere in the process of translating the book into a screenplay, something is gone. Perhaps it is moral ambivalence. Perhaps smart thriller. What we got instead is romance, which only slows down the pace, and clichéd narrative devices that are so obvious and clearly out of place in this fascinating real-life story. I've never been to Las Vegas, but I don't think the casino securities would treat the guests - even though they are "card counters" - in the way Laurence Fishburne's character does.
No doubt there is a great story buried beneath the messy script. Maybe you should buy a book and find it there.
21 
2009-08-04 - I thought this was a pretty good movie on how some MIT students used their brains to cheat casinos. This movie is based on a true story about these MIT students learning how to count cards. Although this is based on a true story Hollywood probably stretch the truth in making this film.
21 is a Fantastic Movie
2009-06-14 - I think 21 is a really great movie. The star, Jim Sturgess, is absolutely brilliant in it. It's an exciting movie with a lot of twists to it. What makes it even better is that it is based on a true story. I absolutely recommend this movie to everyone.
