The glossiness of director Robert Luketic's staging offers reassurance even when events turn grim, as if Luketic was unable to shake the good-time vibe of his previous films...
Comment
03/31/08
21 (2008)
35
%
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:160
Fresh:56
Rotten:104
Average Rating:5.2/10
Consensus: 21 could have been a fascinating study had it not supplanted the true story on which it is based with mundane melodrama.
Theatrical Release:11-04-2008
Synopsis: Inspired by a true story, 21 mixes Las Vegas casino wheeling and dealing with college-kid angst: think OCEAN'S ELEVEN via THE PAPER CHASE. Kevin Spacey is crafty MIT professor Micky Rosa, who... [More]
Starring: Kevin Spacey, Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Laurence Fishburne
Director: Robert Luketic
Reviews for 21
Some folks are calling 21 racist because Sturgess was cast as Ben Campbell, the main character, instead of someone - anyone - Asian. This is a fair battle to pick, but ...
03/31/08
Harold & Kumar Go to Las Vegas would be lots more fun as well as more sociologically astute.
03/31/08
What starts out as a cerebral exercise surrenders to glitzy, formulaic poppycock, with a climatic chase scene that's about as exciting as watching me in a foot race with Carl Lewis.
03/31/08
starts out strong, with an attractive cast and an intriguing premise, but ultimately looses its way due to silly subplots and a muddled ending.
03/30/08
21 comes down to sense and not cents. Ben gets greedy, overlooks his principles and forgets his goal. But then again, he does dazzle!
03/30/08
Another average film that could have had so much more to offer if the screenplay followed more closely to the actual events.
03/30/08
Here's the deal: this is sheer escapist entertainment - and, as such, it's a good gamble.
03/30/08
The Hollywoodization of a true story changes what could have been gripping drama into derivative mundanity with too many plot holes to count.
03/30/08
While this isn't my idea of a movie that's really based on a true story, "21" still deals out an entertaining thriller.
03/30/08
I probably should have given it a lower grade, but I really, really like watching Laurence Fishburne hurt people.
03/30/08
One of those movies where the audience is always about 20 minutes ahead of the characters, chock-full of dopey inventions from a Screenwriting 101 manual.
03/29/08
A slick, soulless nightmare of a film with the moral center of a porno flick and a central character so shallow, loathsome and uninteresting that you keep hoping that the guys from "Funny Games" will show up and give him exactly what he deserves.
03/29/08
A disappointment for moviegoers who prefer their escapist entertainment to be less, well, utterly inert.
03/28/08
This tale is so predictable, when the scenes unfold it's like watching a summer rerun.
03/28/08
21 is not the deepest or most emotionally resonant of the casino films, and it doesn't completely get the psychology of gambling, but it's a lot of fun nonetheless.
03/28/08
It tries to be as slick and as cool as an MTV music video, but it completely busts.
03/28/08
21 blows the endgame when a jarring shift to a con-game finale turns an intriguing drama into just another popcorn movie - the movie equivalent of saying 'hit me' when you've got a 17 showing.
03/28/08
...a run-of-the-mill, if still satisfying, drama.
03/28/08
Inspired by the real-life story of the M.I.T. students who took Las Vegas casinos for millions, 21 has been reshaped to fit a simple movie template -- and it's nearly as much fun as watching an insurance professional compute actuarial tables.
03/28/08
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