...the film quickly devolves into an interminable mess of hoary cliches and stale conventions (a trying-on-clothes montage? Really?)
Comment
03/27/08
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
Much like Las Vegas itself, it's only fun in fits, and the next morning you might find yourself regretting spending time with something comprised entirely of surface delights.
03/27/08
None of the main stars is remotely convincing as a smart person.
03/27/08
21 makes for some slick escapist fantasy. Even if, and because, the fantasy has its roots in something real.
03/27/08
Like a seriously troubled gambling addict, 21 shows its hand too early and then stays at the table too long for its own good.
03/27/08
Director Robert Luketic has aimed for a "Casino" 90210 style that works until its third act revenge story takes it beyond the realms of belief.
03/27/08
It’s the old Hollywood game of payback in place of amends, which makes for short-term satisfaction but a hollow payoff.
03/27/08
21 is a mini-Ocean's Eleven about, and for, people who are the age of its title.
03/27/08
Greed is good and comes without a hint of conscience in 21, a feature-length bore about some smarty-pants who take Vegas for a ride.
03/27/08
Top CriticA pulse-poundingly high-spirited and extremely well-directed drama. If 21 is only one thing, it's intoxicating.
03/27/08
It's a would-be parable about greed that emptily celebrates it, a drama about gifted people who are one-dimensional voids and, most laughable of all, a story about the giddiness of risk-taking that safely plays everything by the numbers.
03/27/08
Breezy Vegas con film fun, with some iffy stuff.
03/27/08
"We're not gambling... we're counting," says Kevin Spacey in the new Las Vegas tale 21, which is a very appropriate way to sum up the film itself.
03/27/08
For high-stakes drama, stick with The Price is Right.
03/27/08
Just like blackjack, when they are winning the film is a blast, when they are losing the film gets tedious and trying.
03/27/08
Lack of originality is where 21 really deals a losing hand.
03/27/08
Under Luketic's flaccid direction, 21 is another two-faced moralistic entertainment that shows us how much fun it is to live large, then punishes its characters for acting out our fantasies.
03/27/08
You'll have fun at 21 but will walk out of the theater a little bit lighter in the pocket, wondering where the time went.
03/27/08
21 shares with the Las Vegas mythos the same stale temptations: empty glitz and little substance.
03/27/08
It's funny how movies based on real stories can be the most formulaic and predictable.
03/27/08
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