21

You know the month of March couldn't end without another "based on a true story" film and it looks like the latest isn't based on much truth at all. Though Ben Mezrich's 2002 best seller "Bringing Down the House" had movie adaptation written all over it, director Robert Luketic's '21' takes the basic premise of MIT students beating the Vegas gambling system and throws everything else out the window. An exciting whirlwind examination of a real life series of events is bogged down by hot looking stars, double-crosses, betrayals and of course sex. The hot looking stars are Kate Bosworth (looking like she's added a little weight to her heroin chic frame) and Jim Sturgess of 'Across the Universe', dropping his British accent. As a brilliant MIT student, Sturgess is hoping to be the recipient of a scholarship that will pay his way through Harvard Medical School. He's done nothing but work hard in school to get where he is and though he has two brilliant best friends, has never been comfortable being part of the nerd outcast clique.

Sturgess' intelligence shines through in all his classes and catches the eye of his mathematics professor Kevin Spacey. Spacey introduces him into the fold of a group of five students who work as a team and use their math skills as well as hand-signals and codewords to beat the blackjack tables in Vegas and walk away with tons of cash. Initially reluctant to join, Sturgess realizes this opportunity could be a means to an end and enable him to gather the appropriate funds needed for Harvard if he doesn't get that scholarship. An added bonus is that one member of the group is Bosworth, the prettiest girl at school who is attracted to his brilliant mind and learned to play the game at the age of nine.

Working together with buy in money provided by Spacey, the team begins to slowly build a fortune, but there are of course complications. As the strongest player and most brilliant mind of the group, Sturgess finds a rival in fellow member Jacob Pitts who was once Spacey's golden boy. There's also the fact that the team must adopt fake identities and disguises to avoid being marked by the various casinos they target. Anonymity proves to be impossible as Sturgess and the activities of his crew are noticed by Laurence Fishburne and his security team who watch from those 'eye in the sky' camera systems. A bit of a genius at counting cards himself, Fishburne knows all the tricks and with so much money on the line, when Sturgess and his crew eventually get caught, the penalty won't be pretty.

Plenty of Hollywood cliches are thrown into '21' and the events and outcome of the story are downright predictable. We know Sturgess will clash with a team member who will jeopardize the scam and be bitterly thrown out and we know that he will also lose his focus and get caught up in the fever of gambling. Then there's the obvious fact that once Sturgess bumps heads with Spacey, he'll have his world turned upside down and see his mentor for the user he is. And of course there's the romantic aspect. Bosworth will no doubt get aroused by Sturgess' intellect and bravado and eventually pull him into bed. Well, more like in front of a window with a skyline view of the Vegas strip, but you get the idea.

The thing is, despite all the familiarity with the twists and turns of the story, I still found the film a bit enjoyable. If I wanted a real powerhouse, dark and gritty drama about gambling and casinos I would have watched Wayne Kramer's 'The Cooler.' I didn't expect much from '21' and got what I expected. I expected to see hot young Hollywood faces like Bosworth and Sturgess overact and land in bed together. I expected to see Spacey start off as a warm mentor and develop into a smug villain and I expected to see Fishburne give another shifty-eyed performance and throw his weight around. Fishburne is perhaps the most interesting character of the film, sharing a nice rapport with partner Jack McGee and discussing a sub-plot involving computerized surveillance putting them and their old school techniques out of business. (Though Alec Baldwin in 'The Cooler' handled that better as well). As for star Sturgess, he isn't bad, I just wish he would stop trying to imitate Ryan Phillippe and actually look other actors in the eyes.

Luketic has also crafted one of the better looking films set in the corporate Vegas of today. Much of the story appears to have been shot on location and even when characters exit a particular casino its the actual location and not one down the road that looks fancier. (If you've ever been in the valet tunnel entrance of the Planet Hollywood hotel you know what I mean.) The story goes completely 'Hollywood' in the end, but then again we know it isn't the type where losers would be forced to dig their own graves far out in the desert.