21 (2008)

21 tells the story of some MIT students and an MIT professor forming a blackjack team. They go to Las Vegas and count cards making a lot of money in the process. Looking past some major flaws, the story is fairly interesting.

Although the film's big-name star is Kevin Spacy, his role in the film isn't all that significant. The story focuses on the life of one MIT student, played by Jim Sturgess. He is convincing enough, but nothing great. The biggest flaw is he is supposed to be a native of Massachusetts yet doesn't have anything close to a Bostonian accent despite the fact that his mom does. It's tough to fault an English actor for not sounding Bostonian, but it is still worth pointing out. The rest of the actors in the film are decent, but none of them are going to win any awards for their acting.

The main problem with this film was the entire premise. The main character needs to join the team because he needs money for medical school. If he can't raise $300,000 he can't go to medical school. As he has been accepted to an American medical school (Harvard Medical School), it seems highly-unlikely that he would not be able to get a loan for medical school. His mother surely could qualify for a loan as she has managed to save $67,000 to give her son. In addition, the character comes off as unrealistically smart. He says he got a 44 on his MCAT (out of a possible 45) but this is not realistic - last year no student scored 44 - the highest score was 42 which was scored by just 0.1% of students taking the exam.

The film's biggest flaw was the films unrealistic portrayal of card counting. One does not need to be a genius to count cards (the film is correct - it only requires simple math). When the characters discuss how one would count cards, they ignore the number of cards remaining in the shoe which is essential to being able to count cards. Next, when the count is hot in the film, it's usually around +15. This count, while extraordinarily favorable, would almost never occur - it's much too high. Also, most dealers are trained card-counters and if the count gets even close to that good, they will shuffle the decks. Also of concern is the system these math geniuses are using. The card-counting method the students use is very basic -it's the simple Hi-Lo system. There are far more complicated systems out there and MIT geniuses should have elected to use a more complicated system. Finally, as the film states - card counting is perfectly legal. This film suggests card counters are mugged - this would never happen in a Las Vegas casino as that would be assault. Card counters are simply told to leave and sometimes banned. If they have been banned and then return, they are arrested for trespassing. For most viewers, these card-counting flaws will be insignificant, but I have studied counting cards and thought I'd point all this out.

Despite the aforementioned flaws, this is worth seeing. This isn't a thinking film and doesn't address anything significant, but it's still decent. People that are interested in blackjack should probably see this.

70/100
C-

UP NEXT: Bonnie and Clyde (review already posted)

i seen this.. god i have seen a lot of movies... but anyways it is a ok movie.. i thought it would be better.. but i would watch it again.

I loved this movie!

its ok ...not the best..but something i would watch again