'21' fails to achieve blackjack plot it deserves
Bill Fech
Issue date: 3/31/08 Section: Features
Hollywood is such a gamble these days.
Just look at the new blackjack thriller "21." You may be familiar with the true story on which it's based: In the 1990s, a cadre of math wizards from MIT (college kids like me, except, you know, smart) devised a successful system of card counting they used to bank millions during flashy weekends in Las Vegas. Though eventually caught and banned from many gambling establishments, their story became the stuff of legend and inspired the best-selling book "Bringing Down the House."
Little surprise that Hollywood sidled up to the table and anted in for their own version of the tale. Unfortunately for the real-life players, "21" is not the blackjack they deserved, but rather the inverse, a deadly "12" just begging to bust (for you non-players, that means
really bad.)
Puppy-eyed Jim Sturgess of "Across the Universe" fame plays Ben Campbell, a "good with numbers" MIT senior who needs a prestigious scholarship to attend pricey medical school at Harvard. Even with his new promotion at a men's clothing store - $8.00 an hour as assistant manager - Ben can't figure out how he'll come up with the $300,000 needed for Harvard.
"I always thought there was more to life than money," he announces out loud, a not-so-subtle hint at his upcoming character crisis.
When not impressing customers with his rapid price calculations on marked-down suits, Ben works with a couple nerdy friends (Josh Gad and Sam Golzari) on a science competition, rating the attractiveness of females in bars
during breaks.
After wowing his advanced math teacher, Professor Rosa (the ever icy Kevin Spacey), Ben is recruited to join a select group of math whizzes who lay their talents on the table - the blackjack table, counting cards as a team. Among them is campus hottie Jill (Kate Bosworth in a performance anyone could have given), someone Ben's had his eye on.
Oh, the coincidence.
Ben is reluctant at first, afraid of the risk involved. Rosa, the group's no-nonsense sponsor and former counter himself, reminds Ben that card counting is not illegal - it's simply using the probability-based formulas inherent in blackjack to strategically obtain a slight advantage over the house. Well, when you put it like that ... let's go win some money!
Just look at the new blackjack thriller "21." You may be familiar with the true story on which it's based: In the 1990s, a cadre of math wizards from MIT (college kids like me, except, you know, smart) devised a successful system of card counting they used to bank millions during flashy weekends in Las Vegas. Though eventually caught and banned from many gambling establishments, their story became the stuff of legend and inspired the best-selling book "Bringing Down the House."
Little surprise that Hollywood sidled up to the table and anted in for their own version of the tale. Unfortunately for the real-life players, "21" is not the blackjack they deserved, but rather the inverse, a deadly "12" just begging to bust (for you non-players, that means
really bad.)
Puppy-eyed Jim Sturgess of "Across the Universe" fame plays Ben Campbell, a "good with numbers" MIT senior who needs a prestigious scholarship to attend pricey medical school at Harvard. Even with his new promotion at a men's clothing store - $8.00 an hour as assistant manager - Ben can't figure out how he'll come up with the $300,000 needed for Harvard.
"I always thought there was more to life than money," he announces out loud, a not-so-subtle hint at his upcoming character crisis.
When not impressing customers with his rapid price calculations on marked-down suits, Ben works with a couple nerdy friends (Josh Gad and Sam Golzari) on a science competition, rating the attractiveness of females in bars
during breaks.
After wowing his advanced math teacher, Professor Rosa (the ever icy Kevin Spacey), Ben is recruited to join a select group of math whizzes who lay their talents on the table - the blackjack table, counting cards as a team. Among them is campus hottie Jill (Kate Bosworth in a performance anyone could have given), someone Ben's had his eye on.
Oh, the coincidence.
Ben is reluctant at first, afraid of the risk involved. Rosa, the group's no-nonsense sponsor and former counter himself, reminds Ben that card counting is not illegal - it's simply using the probability-based formulas inherent in blackjack to strategically obtain a slight advantage over the house. Well, when you put it like that ... let's go win some money!
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