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21 (***) |
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Movie Review by:
Larry "Bocepheus" Evans
Directed by: Robert Luketic
Written by: Allan Loeb, Peter Steinfeld. Adapted from Ben Mezrich's book:
"Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas
for Millions"
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth
Running time: 122 minutes
Released: 03/28/08
Rated PG-13 for some violence, and
sexual content including partial nudity. |
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"As for the direction
Luketic doesn’t do a bad job but he is better suited for
comedies such as Legally Blonde."
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Mezrich’s book was a huge hit and Kevin
Spacey bought the rights a few years back. The non-fiction novel
told of a team of MIT student who took weekend trips to Las Vegas
and over the years made millions of dollars playing blackjack.
Why blackjack you say? Because even though poker gets the press if
you are going to win at a card game in Vegas or anywhere else you
have a better chance winning at blackjack than any other game due to
the simplicity of the game. If the cards I am dealt add up to 21
then I win the game and if the dealer goes over 21 (because the
dealer has to keep taking cards while you can stop) I win the game.
The book told of Kevin Lewis (who in the film is Ben Campbell and in
real life is Jeff Ma) and his experiences while he was a student at
MIT. Across the Universe’s Jim Sturgess plays Campbell, a brilliant
but shy math-and-science whiz who wants to attend Harvard Medical
School but can’t afford the $300,000 tuition. He is also working on
a science project with his friends (Josh Gad and Sam Golzari) that
involves them creating a car that moves without gas.
One day in the class of Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey) he attracts his
attention and is invited to join other students including the girl
he has a crush on, Jill (Kate Bosworth) on regular weekend trips to
Vegas to play blackjack. Ben initially decides not to join up but is
talked into joining Fisher (Jacob Pitts), Jill, Choi (Aaron Yoo) and
Kianna (Liza Lapira) on the team. The system is simple-Ben and
Fisher are the hot players who come in and join a table after
getting a signal from spotters Choi or Kianna while Jill looks out
for trouble and signals them to leave if she sees it. The spotters
count the cards that have been dealt and tell the hot players what
the rest of the deck looks like.
After a dry run in Boston’s Chinatown the group head off to Vegas
but before they get there we meet security consultant Cole Williams
(Laurence Fishburne) beating a card counter into submission in the
basement of a hotel. Williams is a remainder of Vegas’ past when you
could do something like that and get away with it but now doing so
creates bad press.
The team does well at the tables and Ben begins making the money he
needs for Harvard while getting closer to Jill. They hit all the
best places and become different people (which is the major selling
point behind Vegas) depending on the hotel that they are in. We
never learn how they get new identities and after the initial trip
don’t see how they bring cash and chips in town even though it was
made clear in the book that Mickey had partners.
The trouble begins when Fisher gets himself thrown off the team and
Ben begins to ignore his regular life and friends before making a
serious mistake at the tables to the tune of $200,000. His rash move
causes the team to go off on its’ own and as time marches on
Williams learns of their scheme. From there we go all dramatic and
wind our way down to a series of endings that never happened in real
life.
There are a few things in the book that we never see here. Fisher
actually brought Ben in with another character that was cut from the
film, Jill came in after Mickey was cut loose and the team added
members, the Fishburne character never had an encounter with the
team but did chase them, there were actually two teams and it is
impossible to get in the back of Planet Hollywood and run around the
kitchen areas. There are also some geographical issues since the
team changes Vegas hotels but the views keep them in Planet
Hollywood.
Did I enjoy the film? Yes, even with the changes because the story
does keep you entertained. Sturgess is very good as the innocent who
becomes corrupted and loses his way before finding it again.
Bosworth isn’t bad as Jill but there is no sexual tension between
her and Sturgess. The rest of the team is also well cast with Pitts
coming off perfectly as Fisher while Yoo contributes comic relief
and Lapira is cute and sexy. Fishburne and Jack McGee are great as
old school Vegas types and Spacey chews the scenery with robust
gusto. The real Ben, Jeff Ma, has a great cameo as a Planet
Hollywood dealer (Ben’s brother from another mother).
As for the direction Luketic doesn’t do a bad job but he is better
suited for comedies such as Legally Blonde. He does try to dazzle us
with montages and cards but I think that producer Brett Ratner would
have been better suited for the job. My suggestion, see the movie
then go out and get the book to get the entire story. |
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21 © 2008 Sony Pictures Releasing
All Rights Reserved
Review © 2008 Alternate Reality, Inc. |
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