"21"

Title: "21" or "21 - The Movie"
Director: Robert Luketic
Producer: Kevin Spacey, Brent Ratner
Editor: Elliot Graham
Composer: David Sardy
Starring:
- Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell
- Kevin Spacey as Professor Mickey Rosa
- Kate Bosworth as Jill Taylor
- Laurence Fishburne as Cole Williams

Plot and Critical Review: Based on the best-selling book Bringing Down the House, 21 is the story of a group of MIT students who master the questionable process of "counting cards", a technique used to "beat" the game of Blackjack (or 21, as it is known in some countries). The movie begins with Ben Campbell (on the fresh side of 21) interviewing for a full-ride scholarship to Harvard Medical. The interviewer is impressed with Ben's academic record but asks him to produce something that will "dazzle." The rest of the film is set within the context of Ben's interview, although we don't hear Ben play the part of the Narrator until the end of the film.

After an impressive display of mathematical knowledge Ben is taken to a late-night meeting where he meets face-to-face with his Linear Equations professor, Mickey Rosa (Spacey). In that meeting Rosa and a group of four students (including Jill Taylor, for whom Ben has a significant yet unproductive crush) ask him to be part of their team that travels to Vegas to count cards, to beat the system. Ben is hesitant. He believes counting cards is wrong and tries to avoid getting involved in what he considers an illegal operation. The next day Taylor visits Ben at the coat and tie shop where he works. After a moment of foolish yet tolerable flirtation she encourages him to join the team. "Ben, you should feel the thrill of winning more money than you can possible imagine." He blows her off, once again refusing the offer, but we know there's no way he can stay away, especially after she sought him out on her own. Soon after he returns to one of the team's late-night meetings (which he learns are actually training sessions) and is introduced to the world of blackjack.

Cue the montage of Ben's training. He learns a very specific method of counting cards and is becoming more and more excited about the opportunity of making an enormous amount of money. He makes it clear, however, that he is only joining the team to pay for school ($300,000) and as soon as he has won the necessary amount of money will leave the team. Rosa accepts. Ben is involved in one real-life training exercise (which he passes, of course) and is off to Vegas.

As expected, he is a marvel at the game. Ben also comes to enjoy the luxurious lifestyle of a high-roller. Champagne, dancing girls, and tall stacks of high-value chips being pushed across the table in his direction intoxicate him. The more he becomes enamored with his Vegas lifestyle (where he and the rest of the students assume false identities) the more his lifestyle as a student and a friend suffers. His two best friends with whom he is working on an elite science project begin to suspect his wavering interests in all things school-related. It is convenient for Ben that Rosa is able to pull all sorts of strings at school and help him to avoid doing almost any academic work. During one of his weekends in Vegas Jill falls for him and they become intimate. Even though he is putting more and more money away, sleeping with his dream-girl, and living the dream-life in Las Vegas the quality of his life begins to slip.

When Ben's friends kick him off of their science project team Ben's descent into desperation begins. Before his first trip to Vegas Professor Rosa warns him about the dangers of gambling, reminding him they were not there to gamble but to count cards and win money. When Ben fails to stand by that guideline and bets and loses an enormous amount of money the team suspects his loyalty. Ben is caught counting cards, Rosa has his dorm ransacked (all of the money he saved is taken) and his relationship with Jill is fractured. It's a miss, but great loss must come before the ultimate victory.

The man who caught Ben counting was Cole Williams, a casino security agent nearly out of business due to increasingly powerful anti-cheating technology. After a generous beating he makes a deal with Ben that if Ben delivers Rosa (who Williams chased around Vegas before but never caught) he'll let Ben off, even allowing him to keep his winnings.

Ben returns to Rosa, asking for forgiveness and making it clear that he wants "back in" the game. Rosa never suspects the plot and is given right into Williams' hands, even though Williams doesn't permit Ben to keep his winnings, indicating that he isn't fortunate enough to have a pension plan. Ben is also fortunate enough to make up with his friends (who win the science project) and "get the girl." That should please us all. The movie ends on the front steps of Harvard (for we are meant to presume Ben got the scholarship, indeed) and, for a moment, in the office where Ben is interviewing for the scholarship. The final shot is that of the interviewer with his mouth open in shock. No doubt he was indeed dazzled.

21 is a movie full of life, youthful exuberance, and general fun. Through the antics of these young MIT students we are allowed a first-class pass into a world few of us will ever experience; that of the Vegas high roller. The movie's photographic director is clearly set in two worlds; that of the vibrant and exciting Las Vegas and the somber campus of MIT in Cambridge, Mass. Sturgess leads the ensemble well as the acting of his fellow students is nothing to mention here or anywhere. Bosworth is able to go transcend being the eye-candy of the film. Well done. Though they are the representation of everything Ben loses in his real life, Ben's friends serve as ample comedic relief. Spacey fills the shoes of an MIT professor as if he were always meant to be one. Fishburne's portrayal of a "good-guy" Vegas mobster is impeccable and never gets old.

The movie flows well and the viewer isn't required to sit through too much down-time. Ben's relationship with Jill is awkward and we wonder when it becomes "real" for the two characters. Their more serious scenes together could have been skipped altogether.

To enjoy this movie you must enjoy the following things:
- Las Vegas
- Mathematical genius
- Blackjack
- Young love
- Kevin Spacey

Although it doesn't belong on the shelf of every movie lover, 21 is a film that communicates a message of loss in the face of achievement, truth in the face of falsehood, and true friendship in the face of relational disappointment.

My Rating: 6/10

The "Reel Revelation": "Double Down on True Identity!"

21 features a typical "Pauper to Prince" story-line. Unlike most stories that exalt a character Ben ends up returning to the life of the Pauper, preferring a simple living (although not that simple for a Harvard student) over the glamour lifestyle presented to him in Las Vegas. Ben goes back and forth, struggling with finding true contentment in living two lives. It is obvious that he can't keep such a lifestyle up and eventually, as we knew he would, crumbles. Although 21 presents a story hard to believe, one most of us will never achieve, it is not at all unlike how most of us choose to live every day of our lives.

In this world we are constantly pressed to live a certain way, acquire certain things, and to become a certain person. And we're not simply pulled or pressed one way, but multiple ways! At times we may feel that we are being "drawn and quartered" on a daily basis by worldly powers we cannot possibly resist. What can be done against such overwhelming opposition? We ought to trust in God and find our true identity in what God says about us. We look to the Bible to learn these wonderful secrets. It's there, deep in the pages of Scripture, that we discover who God says we are, what we're to do with our lives, and that we are "fearfully and wonderfully made," made in the image of God, indeed!

As we begin this Lenten season let us join together to seek God and pursue a more definite sense of who we are; not only as individuals but as members of the Family of God.

See you tomorrow - E.T.

P.S. - My plot synopsis wasn't a synopsis. Will endeavor to shorten it up tomorrow night. Tryin' to give you a good idea of what the movie's about, etc.