21

Reviewed by: George 'El Guapo' Roush - 03.28.08

****DISCLAIMER**** This review is for entertainment purposes only. You can’t use your own Dungeons & Dragons 20 sided die when playing craps. I learned that the hard way.

21 is a perfect example of a book to film translation gone to complete shit. Based off the best selling novel ‘Bringing Down the House’ by Ben Mezrich, 21 is supposed to be about six M.I.T. students who swindle Vegas for millions. What we get instead, after numerous script revisions and high fives by Kevin Spacey’s TriggerStreet Productions is a film made for fucking morons that happens to have M.I.T. students in it.

Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is an ultra smart student who’s broke and can’t afford med school. After impressing his teacher Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) he’s invited into a secret card counting club where the team goes to Vegas every weekend and makes a ton of money using the system they’ve created. Ben also has a crush on Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth) who is a member of the team and of course, a hot chick. Because heaven forbid we merely get an intelligent drama on our hands without throwing in some dumbass 90210 love story. Ben wants to earn enough money for school then quit but the allure of the Vegas lifestyle begins to take him over. Whatever.

The book’s plot has been mauled so badly it’s laughable. Since Spacey got his hands on the rights, he does what any egomaniacal actor would do with it. He inserts himself right into the story when he has no right to. Spacey, as the teacher, had a minimal role in the book. But in 21, he’s this giant ring leader with a shady past who fucks over his students if they don’t listen to his rules. It’s dumb. Dumb, dumb, dumb and takes away from the core of the story, which is how these guys ripped off Vegas for so much money. The book also talks about how this team not only ripped off Vegas, but tons of other casinos around the country. Why weren’t we able to follow this team around and see how they got so much money? Why just stick the team in Vegas? I know there were multiple teams used and 21 is about one team, but stop dumbing shit down just to attract the teen crowd. Fuck this movie.

Another liberty taken from the story and remade into a fanciful episode of a one hour tv drama is Laurence Fishburne’s character Cole Williams. In the book, the team is being followed but they don’t know by who. One of the team members is even assaulted in a casino bathroom overseas by some dudes and told to stay away from the casinos. In the movie, we know all about Cole, a big security guy who catches thieves, and catches on to their scam rather quickly (which doesn’t surprise me because the M.I.T. team may as well walk around with t-shirts on that say ‘Cheaters Always Play Blackjack.’). Cole also has a past with Micky that once again puts the focus on Spacey and away from the team which is what this film is supposed to be about. There’s also a scene with Cole where he’s beating up people (Including our main character) that are tied to a chair in the basement of the casino. It reeks of a gangster scene rip off from Casino and is another example of 'our audience is stupid' filmmaking.

Here’s the system that’s used in the movie: Team members sit at a table. When the cards run hot, they signal the big player to come over and play. How do they signal? They cross their arms behind their back. They may as well hold up a fucking sign that says “This table is hot” because the signal is so god damn obvious I’m surprised security didn’t catch onto it the first time they did it. Once the big player (Gorilla as it’s called in the book) sits down, they are given a code word as to the plus-minus count of the cards. So they make big bets and count the cards and walk away with tons of money. That’s how the movie shows it. These guys get a signal, they sit down, and next thing you know, they’re raking in the dough! It’s magic! Or at least, its movie magic made for idiots! It’s simplified down so much they make it seem like your dog could run into a casino, sit at a blackjack table, and bark his way into hundreds of thousands of dollars. What was also funny is how this team is supposed to be using costumes to disguise their identities, yet we never see them in costume unless you count fake moustaches and bad accents.

What annoyed me was we’re just supposed to buy that these guys are so smart that they’re winning every hand without explaining anything to us. We also have to sit through a lame ass love story, a lame ass side plot involving Spacey and Fishburne’s past and a lame ass side plot with Ben and his friends. Why is 21 so damn painful and boring to have to sit through?

The acting is fine but I didn’t care about any of the characters. You never become emotionally tied to any of them because they’re all so uninteresting and generic. Summed up in two sentences. Awesome!

21 should have been a taught thriller done via narrative throughout the entire run where the audience is taken on a ride with this team as they travel the country and scam casinos while always looking over their shoulder. Instead we get 90210 in Vegas. I feel bad for Ben who wrote a really fun book to read, sold the rights and watched it just get butchered. But of course, he has to suck up and say how awesome of a job they did with it. Shit, the real guy this is based on wasn’t even white, he was Asian. Heaven forbid you put an Asian actor in a starring role. And for all I know, the book this is based off of was complete bullshit. But at least it was entertaining bullshit, and that’s the difference here.

Do yourself a favor and buy the book. It’s a better use of your time and doesn’t insult your intelligence like its film counterpart. Trust me on this one. Or save your money and go to the track and bet on the ponies. It’s a better gamble. Ok, it's not, but at least you won't have to sit thru this.

Double down your e-mails to: george@latinoreview.com