2008 Woodie Awards
True story '21' hits jackpot on the big screen
Benjamin Billman
Issue date: 4/10/08 Section: Intermission
In this continuing trend of movie directors trying to make slapstick comedies about true classic movies, "21" took a left at the stoplight, and screamed down the highway of movie brilliance.
While the movie was a true story, it avoided using the no-name actors as so many other true story movies tend to do, which made for a definite plus.
The actors weren't busy trying to impress everyone with their skill, instead they did an excellent job of going with the flow.
Director Robert Luketic did an amazing job of keeping that flow as well, spending much of the movie in an incredible buildup. Jim Sturgess, playing the main character, Ben Campbell, a genius MIT student whose sole dream in life is to go to Harvard Med, stole the show, switching between winning it big at the blackjack tables and ineffectively vying for the affections of heartthrob Kate Bosworth ("Remember the Titans").
The other students in the movie should be commended as well, speaking their lines well, playing their parts superbly and robbing the hotels of Las Vegas blind.
And if all that wasn't enough, Kevin Spacey played in his best role since "Pay it Forward," as a conniving, unethical MIT professor.
In the movie, Sturgess, playing Campbell, is about to go to Harvard Med, but needs to get the Robinson Scholarship, a full ride (paying out about $300,000 to its winner).
He is a genius, acing all of his classes and helping his friends design a self-guiding robot.
But when his professor (Spacey) invites him to join a small group of students that count cards in an 'unbeatable' blackjack system, he can hardly refuse, especially since one of the women involved is Jill Taylor (Bosworth) who he has been ogling since starting school at MIT.
The movie contains some delightful twists and turns, beginning with the secret past of professor Rosa (Spacey) and continuing with the rise of facial recognition software in Las Vegas casinos.
This movie certainly dazzled, and helped to crush the old and popular aphorism, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
Not so much, as it turns out. A must see for everyone.
While the movie was a true story, it avoided using the no-name actors as so many other true story movies tend to do, which made for a definite plus.
The actors weren't busy trying to impress everyone with their skill, instead they did an excellent job of going with the flow.
Director Robert Luketic did an amazing job of keeping that flow as well, spending much of the movie in an incredible buildup. Jim Sturgess, playing the main character, Ben Campbell, a genius MIT student whose sole dream in life is to go to Harvard Med, stole the show, switching between winning it big at the blackjack tables and ineffectively vying for the affections of heartthrob Kate Bosworth ("Remember the Titans").
The other students in the movie should be commended as well, speaking their lines well, playing their parts superbly and robbing the hotels of Las Vegas blind.
And if all that wasn't enough, Kevin Spacey played in his best role since "Pay it Forward," as a conniving, unethical MIT professor.
In the movie, Sturgess, playing Campbell, is about to go to Harvard Med, but needs to get the Robinson Scholarship, a full ride (paying out about $300,000 to its winner).
He is a genius, acing all of his classes and helping his friends design a self-guiding robot.
But when his professor (Spacey) invites him to join a small group of students that count cards in an 'unbeatable' blackjack system, he can hardly refuse, especially since one of the women involved is Jill Taylor (Bosworth) who he has been ogling since starting school at MIT.
The movie contains some delightful twists and turns, beginning with the secret past of professor Rosa (Spacey) and continuing with the rise of facial recognition software in Las Vegas casinos.
This movie certainly dazzled, and helped to crush the old and popular aphorism, "What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas."
Not so much, as it turns out. A must see for everyone.