A glib, flashy reworking of a story that, shorn of the cheap formulaic frills that have been added to it in the name of merchandising, might have been fascinating.
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
[Director] Luketic and his screenwriters preserve the excitement and a fair amount of the blackjack strategy -- yet somehow the whole exercise plays like a high-tech John Hughes movie.
03/27/08
Take it from this loss prevention specialist: don't play 21. [Blu-Ray]
03/27/08
The actual process of card counting may fly right over our heads, but the film's smart enough and engaging enough that the math behind it all doesn't much matter.
03/26/08
While I'm firm believer in the adage 'Never let the truth get in the way of a good story,' 21 doesn't spin a good enough yarn to justify all the changes.
03/26/08
Manages to make the act of counting cards seem as exciting as this past winter's Super Bowl -- and as perilous as climbing Mount Everest with both eyes closed.
03/26/08
Jim Sturgess turns up the heat as an untapped genius who takes a walk on the wild side.
03/26/08
21 is built around some standard-issue plot mechanics, but it's still a clever and novel card-sharp thriller.
03/26/08
Numerous inane plot twists and a convenient villain whose behavior defies logic or meaning.
03/26/08
The new blackjack dramedy 21 stands when it should hit, never doubles down and wimps out to the point that it turns a pretty compelling tale into a bust.
03/26/08
Buoyed by the charming Jim Sturgess, and abetted by Messrs. Spacey and Fishburne, 21's sins are certainly forgivable. The cast seems to be having real fun and there's no reason, despite a few lags and holes, that the audience shouldn't either
03/25/08
A movie that wastes a lot of time and money and really, really shoulda stayed in Vegas.
03/25/08
Entertaining fun [but] flawed in its overuse of Hollywood cliches and trickery that makes it predictable and less believable.
03/25/08
The deck may not be the only cardboard character, but this re-telling of an actual event efficiently combines intellect with melodrama.
03/24/08
"21" relies too heavily on music video montages to connect its cardboard characters.
03/23/08
Loose moral messages and flaws in the plot don't add up to screenwriting and directing that draw an ace, but beating the house with intellect will always be a winning hand.
03/21/08
Loosely adapted from Ben Mezrich's best-selling Bringing Down the House, the movie stretches facts like taffy but never shirks its responsibility to entertain.
03/20/08
Because 21 subscribes to the allure of Vegas and not how it is infiltrated with logic and quantification, its details are subordinated in service to familiar cinematic protocol.
03/11/08
Glitzy on the surface, Luketic's fact-inspired fantasy-adventure is yet another Faustian morality tale, but as scripted it defies narrative logic and has too many implausible twists and turns and at least three endings.
03/11/08
shrewdly shuffles together attractive young leads, cagey screen vets and a fantasy-fulfillment scenario in a slickly polished package
03/10/08
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