21

Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) needs either 300000 dollars or a "real life experience" in order to reach his dream, a scholarship in Harvard medical school. Problem: he's a bit of a dork, and a broke one on top of that. However, being a maths genius he's soon spotted by one of his professors (Kevin Spacey) who includes him in a group of gifted students he takes every week-end to Vegas. There they use a method based on pure statistics to beat the casinos and "live the life".
All in all 21 isn't a bad movie. It's correctly shot, especially the scenes in Las Vegas with slick, fast paced camera moves that keep you interested. You don't need to be a math genius yourself to understand what's going on and that's probably a good thing for most of us !
It is quite obvious this movie targets teenagers or young people up to 20-22 years old. I'm not saying this in a demeaning way but be aware that anyone older will have seen it all at least a hundred times already. And we're touching here the major issue : the story is highly predictable. Now I know what you're gonna say. This is based on a true story and anyway which movie isn't predictable these days ? And that's a valid point; but in all fairness this one is right up there for you'll almost be able to picture every single scene and twist in your mind long before they're shown on the screen and this up to the very end. If you're not overly attracted by the subject, you might get bored after a while.

Surprisingly enough, the major disappointment amongst the actors was Kevin Spacey who tends to overact. He doesn't look very comfortable in not having the main part and seems to be on a mission : giving the audience as much "Spacey" as he can in his limited screen time. Not a good performance by his very high standards. Same result with Lawrence Fishburne as the angry casino boss. Kate Bosworth's character (Jill Taylor) is clearly a "stand there and be pretty" type of character, so she didn't have to do much. Young Sturgess however is doing quite OK and has a real "nice dude" touch going on. We'll see him again.

Not bad but not great, 21 is the kind of easy movie that doesn't require to be seen in the cinema unless you're really into the whole "Vegas effect". My advice if it's not the case: wait for the DVD. Deserves better than a 2 but is definitely not a 3 so...

2.5/5