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21 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478087/ Director: Robert Luketic Starring: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne Based on the true story of six MIT students who became experts on counting cards, 21 is a slick story revolving around main character Ben Campbell (Sturgess), an overachieving nerd who needs to raise $300k for entry into Harvard or try to win scholarship. He gets sucked into the world of card counting by his charismatic MIT lecturer Prof. Rosa (Spacey), and soon he , Rosa and 4 other MIT students are jetsetting to Vegas every weekend and making a fortune. I saw this with a friend after hearing a couple of good things about it, but it wasn't exactly a movie I enjoyed. The feeling of escapism during the scenes in Vegas is done well enough, but the plot is terrible. It's hard to put it down to the script or the acting, but you just don't give a poo poo about any of the characters besides Ben. Supporting characters continually make stupid decisions which often feel out of the blue, and most characters' motivations are poorly depicted, leaving most of them as one-dimensional constructs. The plot tries to keep throwing the unexpected at you to hold interest, but it often feels disjointed, and the twist is over the top and excessive. The only character fleshed out in any detail is the main character, Ben. He is initially shown as a shy but good natured nerd who's secretly in love with the hottest girl in school (Bosworth). During the movie he transforms into a smarmy whiny baby who blames everyone else for his mistakes, then targets the figurehead of his frustrations with a vicious and immature reaction, only to turn into a smug douchebag at the end. I think the director may have been trying for a different theme but that's what I ended up with. This is the sort of movie which most people will see, enjoy well enough, then forget everything about it the moment they leave the cinema. I'm trying to do that right now. 2/5 PROS: Slick production, the escapism and feel of Vegas is done well. CONS: Stupid plot holes, stupid characters the bit where Choi uses the codeword in the phrase "so did I tell you I read about this place in a magazine?" in an UNDERGROUND betting club is loving retarded, unlikeable main character, the end.
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Jun 18, 2008 06:52
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I loved "Bringing Down the House," the book upon which this movie was based. Unfortunately, "21" was only loosely based on that book. They borrowed the characters' names and the card counting system, and that's about where the similarities ended. It was a pretty disappointing movie. But seeing it made me want to reread the book, which is excellent. So that's a plus. 2/5.
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Jun 29, 2008 07:19
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This movie is kind of like a junior Ocean's 11 which isn't totally bad in concept. I kind of enjoyed it although they sort of pushed its morals a little too much by the end. Also, I'm not sure why they kept pushing "winner winner chicken dinner" as some kind of catch phrase because it was pretty stupid. I enjoyed this a decent amount my first time although it falls flat on repeated viewings. Rating: 2.5 out of 5
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Nov 30, 2009 21:23
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