Flashy crime drama "21" deals a winning hand

21

By John DeFore

AUSTIN, Texas (Hollywood Reporter) - Just as veteran gamblers realize that the house always wins, moviegoers know what happens to wide-eyed kids who strike it rich by ignoring the angels on their shoulders. Still, a predictable rise and fall doesn't keep the ride in "21" from being enjoyable. Moviegoers should respond well to the film's glossy pleasures.

The true -- if sometimes too perfect to believe -- story scripted by Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb centers on Ben Campbell (winningly played by Jim Sturgess), a gentle brainiac whose Harvard Med dreams hinge on a scholarship he's unlikely to get. Ben is a loving son and earnest student who rebuffs repeat invitations to join some MIT colleagues in a scheme to make a fortune counting cards in Vegas.

Only the entreaties of a lovely blonde (Kate Bosworth) change Ben's mind, but once in, he goes whole hog: His supernatural facility with numbers allows him to be the team's cleanup hitter, swaggering up to blackjack tables once scouts have identified which are "hot," then walking away with tens of thousands of dollars. The system may never fully make sense to the viewer, but we accept that the kids know what they're doing, and with the help of a killer pop soundtrack, we enjoy going along for the ride.

Ben's growing ego (he's blowing off nerdy buddies and trusting his apparent infallibility) has him pointed toward a hard fall, but there are external threats to this high-roller lifestyle as well: Laurence Fishburne, as a casino detective behind the ubiquitous "eye in the sky" surveillance cameras, has a nose for card-counters, and Kevin Spacey, as the prof behind the cheating ring, has zero tolerance for students whose brashness costs him money.

Spacey and Fishburne demonstrate a willingness to take their characters into seriously menacing territory, but director Robert Luketic (known for rom-coms like "Legally Blonde") seems not to want to exploit them fully. Spacey never quite plumbs his "Glengarry" intensity here, and the backstory of Fishburne's last-of-his-breed house dick is explored only enough to justify some plot movement.

The lack of intensity won't matter much to the young audience to which "21" is geared. Escapist moviegoers happy to live out a flashy fantasy get a brief comeuppance and still walk away from the table with a little something in their pockets.

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