Movie Reviews

Sony Pictures Entertainment

Review in a Hurry:  Hit me! Whiz kids take the casinos for millions in this based-on-a-true-story thriller that aces the geek-cred test but just barely passes everything else.

The Bigger Picture:  The genius here is in a breezy tour of a system for beating blackjack, created by a (very) extracurricular MIT club. Through a combination of math, code words and the magic of oversimplification, 21 makes you feel like you, too, could beat the house.

Of course, nothing's ever that easy, nor is it as much fun as it looks. And that's the problem with 21, a film that's great with abstract theories but ignores the ugly truths about its characters—which is to say, there really aren't any, just contrived motivations papered over with amiable, attractive young actors. (Well, and Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne, who are older, therefore dour and mean.)

The trouble starts right off the bat, when protagonist Ben gets a superfluous rationale for joining the blackjack team—he needs $300,000 for med school, and he needs it because apparently we wouldn't believe that he just wants it. In giving us someone to root for, 21 takes away someone that might hold our interest; it's this zero-sum storytelling that makes it impossible to take the proceedings seriously.

Fans of Bringing Down the House, the best-seller that inspired this movie, might well walk out wondering what went wrong. How often is a nonfiction Hollywood adaptation less lurid and exciting than its source? Director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde, Monster-in-Law) doubles down on the book's glitz but leaves out all of the grit, trading scenes of real panic and menace for corny backroom confrontations with zero scare factor. As an adaptation, it's a disappointment. As Hollywood fare, it's a bust.

The 180—a Second Opinion:  The scenes of the team at work, playing dress-up while they rake in the chips, have some real joy in them. Despite the music-video vibe, it's at these times that 21 seems not just possible, but engaging.