21 (Sony Pictures Home Entertainment)
“She’s an 8”
“Wrong! She’s a 7.649”
“I was rounding up.”
The movie 21 (2008) has a Spiderman feel to it. Ben Campell (Jim Sturgess) starts out as a clueless bookwork with a mind for numbers, and then he’s discovered and becomes a less clueless bookworm bent on gaining charisma and respect. This is a two hour movie based on math. It is a mathematic suspense movie. (emily)
Although he’s fresh off the boat, Jim Sturgess has managed to carve out a tidy little niche for himself in young Hollywood. Due to Across the Universe (2007), he has every boy-loving straight girl daydreaming about singing Mama Mia! (2008) songs to him. Add his sigh inducing English accent to the mix, and you’ve got a bona-fide crossover heartthrob on your hands. Apparently his acting is phenomenal, according to the interviews with the cast in the special features.
Sturgess has a very Peter Parker feel to him, and I am certain he would have given Maguire a run for his money as the title character of the Spiderman franchise. His eyes are big and watery and he’s just uncomfortable looking enough to be believable in a part where he’s expected to be normal, but just good looking enough to be bankable as a movie star. He is perfect for the role of humble geek with a brilliant mind, Ben Campell. Unfortunately, his charm is somewhat neutered by the very Hollywood feel to the movie. What was so tenderly endearing about him in Accross the Universe is mostly lost in 21.
21 is very loosely based on the book that Ben Mezrich wrote, called Bringing Down the House, which is the true story of 6 MIT students who formulated a flawless strategy to cheat the house at blackjack. Before the book was in stores, Mezrich wrote up a cover article for Wired magazine about the kids. The primary producer of the movie saw the cover and bought the movie rights over the phone without even reading the book, or the article.
This is the type of concept that was born to be a movie. Five unassuming MIT students form a card counting team, make trips to Vegas each weekend and rake in big bucks cheating the house in Blackjack. I’m sure that the movie practically wrote itself. And it feels like it. With the exception of the final twist, nothing in the script feels new, nothing feels fresh. But that doesn’t stop the young actors/actresses from glowing in their roles. It’s obvious that all of them have great potential. However, there is a wrench: all of the real life MIT kids are Asian, and only two of them are in the film!
Lawrence Fishburn plays a card counter for hire and monitors many of the casinos in the area; he watches the floor through cameras all around the casinos. When he finds a counter, he brings him/her into the back room and beats him/her up. There is a touch of nice dramatic irony as we, the audience, know that Fishburn is a’ brewin within the innards of the casinos, just waiting to beat on our nerdy little black-jackers. And brew does he ever. This might be one of my favorite Fishburn appearances. For whatever reason, he never gets dealt the big bad wolf roles that go to the likes of Denzel Washington, Morgan Freeman, or Ving Rhames. But he is a simmering powerhouse as Cole Williams: a thug with a mind for counting.
The movie feels like a very American thriller. It’s shot with a digital camera, which gives it its very 21st century Hollywood blockbuster feel. 21 is exciting. The thrill of a few nerds pooling their recourses together to make a ton of money is a great idea, and a sweet ride. You are really rooting for these kids. They go from being nobodies in their normal life to playing high rolling millionaires on the weekends.
21 is fun, somewhat suspenseful, and cleverly executed. But it reeks of money. And with its core demographic being teenagers, the writers don’t need to push the envelope: so they don’t. Yes, the movie is amusing. It is also safe, conventional, and un-complex. The featurettes in the special features are all throwaway. Especially the show and tell of how to count cards, “Advantage Player,” that has all of the cast members teaching math. It’s super cheesy and has a Sesame Street for Teens feel to it.
Almost everyone that I talked to about this movie really liked it. I wanted to give it a better review, but I didn’t enjoy it that much. I guess the fact that I don’t like math, gambling or florescent lighting effected my experience of 21. B-
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