Film : 21
Director: Robert Luketic
Studio: Michael De Luca Company
Principle Actors: Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Lisa Lapira and Laurence Fishburne
Length of Feature: 123 minutes
Release Date: 28 of March 2008
Rating: PG for some violence and sexual content including partial nudity.  

Reviewed by: Jennifer Chang (Vancouver Correspondent - Canada)

For some people, the number ‘21' represents more than anything; the marital age to get hitched in Vegas and file for divorce within 55 hours, or the freedom to consume alcohol legally. In this film, ‘21' is both about the game of Blackjack and the milestone of these college students reaching that age, as they approach graduation and either embrace maturity or wreck their lives. 

The lead character, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is a brainy, but socially awkward MIT student who has great ambition to attend Harvard Med School, yet he cannot pull his strings together for the enormous tuition fee with a wage of $8 per hour. Here enters the devious mathematics professor, Mickey Rosa's (Kevin Spacey) world when Rosa handpicks Campbell to be part of his card counting scheme poised to make millions for the blackjack tables in Las Vegas. On weekends, Rosa brings his team of five genius students to the same casino in Vegas to cash out winnings from counting cards, an apparently legal, but exceedingly discouraged pastime.

Vegas is where Campbell starts the ride of his life. Predictably, Campbell gets the girl of his dream, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth), wealth and power but ends up losing himself between the tables. And ultimately, digs himself a black hole when he loses his cool with Rosa and discovers himself under the surveillance by an old school casino security guard Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne). Williams is himself desperate to beat the odds against being put out of work by hi-tech, face detecting surveillance software; he entertains himself by smashing the faces of card sharks. 

21, which is loosely based on a novel, Bringing Down the House, fails to deliver the thrills of gambling movies. For one thing, the beauty of the counting scheme is underdeveloped; even now I have no clue to the logic behind card counting. More, the casting of the young actors do not contain enough alluring presence to make up the poorly developed script. The presence of two-time Oscar winning actor Kevin Spacey and the Oscar nominated Laurence Fishburne is what is holding down the entire movie. Yet, nothing is spectacular about Spacey's acting, as he always has been cast as the same calm and sarcastic character. Fishburne's character is perhaps the most charismatic of all, but receives limited screen time. Though this movie has its speedy twists and ups and downs, I still find it 15 minutes too long. "Winner, winner, chicken dinner" is the catch phrase to winning jackpot, but in this case, pass on the dinner.