Thursday, April 3rd 2008

By noah nemoy

Kevin Spacey shines as a corrupt professional in this film adaptation of best selling novel bringing down the house.

21

Directed by Robert Luketic

Starring Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, and Kate Bosworth

[rating:2.5]

21 is an adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s bestselling novel Bringing Down the House. The semi-fictionalized novel (the names were changed and some character details were altered) chronicles the story of a group of MIT math geniuses who decide to take their knowledge of mathematical probability and use it to count cards in a whole new and very successful way. Initially, they count for fun and to see if they can beat the system, but eventually take their pastime to Vegas where they rake in big. Unfortunately, they also have to evade the ruthless casino security who are trying to put an end to their shenanigans.

While the book is amazing in its own right, it apparently wasn’t good enough for Hollywood who felt that the plot could do with some significant changes. Unfortunately, by fictionalizing much of the true story, 21 gets caught between worlds: it’s not factual enough to be a believable true story, but because it tries to remain a factually-based film, its fictional elements become cliché and obvious fabrications.

21 tells the story of Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), a character who, in the novel is an upper-middle class Vietnamese-American, but transformed into a working class Bostonian white kid in the movie. Ben works hard to get both the money and the marks required to get into Harvard medical school; unfortunately, he can’t afford the $300,000 tuition and living expenses (which gives the movie a more moral edge then the book.)

Ben is recruited by his Professor, Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey), to join a secret MIT blackjack team who, by using a complicated probability math based card counting system, take weekend trips to Vegas and win up to six figures at the casinos. While Ben initially refuses to join, his love interest, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth), convinces him and he soon becomes the biggest winner on the team.

But while the high life is sweet for Ben, both financially and academically due to Professor Rosa pulling some strings, problems soon arise. While rivalries on the team start to form, Ben also struggles to win over Jill. Additionally, he abandons his extra circular activities and friends, and has to stay one step ahead of casino security consultant Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) who’s determined to bring him down.

Robert Luketic, of Legally Blonde fame, directs 21, and he does a relatively good job as ship’s captain. The film was shot all on location and the cinematography during the scenes showing the card counting system is superb. The experienced actors do well in their roles, with Spacey nailing the enigmatic professor leading the team, and Fishburne commanding as the harsh yet human security consultant who tries to stop them. However, while the younger actors give decent performances they lack considerable depth. This is especially disappointing considering that both of the young leads have made it pretty big; Sturgess became a household name because of Across the Universe, and Bosworth breaking through with Superman Returns.

Aside from the unnecessary simplifying of an otherwise good story by adding a love interest, plot twists, and a redeemable villain, the main problem with 21 is the fact that it can’t decide what type of film it wants to be. At first, it does seem to be a plausible true story, mostly follows the novel, and feels like a compelling heist flick. Unfortunately, as the film progresses, it strays further from reality towards an incredibly unbelievable ending that is riddled with clichés, and ultimately transforms the film into a college comedy/drama. By trying to mold fact with fiction and reality with Hollywood, the film becomes two different stories that are hard to integrate. If the entire film was a college comedy/drama then it would be a fairly decent movie. By the same token, it could have also been incredible if they had opted for a faithful adaptation of the novel. Because they try to somehow combine the two genres though, 21 just doesn’t work as a movie.

Though 21 isn’t amazing, it’s not horrible. If you’ve read Bringing Down the House, know that they’ve pretty much butchered the original story, but if you haven’t and are up for seeing a mediocre and reasonably entertaining Hollywood movie, then 21 might be worth checking out. While it may not cut it as a “good flick,” it is on par with every other decidedly average film.

• Noah Nemoy

Tags: 21, blackjack, film, Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Kevin Spacey, Robert Luketic