21 (2008)

I've read the book years ago, and it almost lured me into a possibility of making money through gambling using method depicted in the book, putting myself into an illusion that i actually had some qualification to pull it off albeit that arguably, i'm doing rather well on Maths. The disputable fact is, that even if the book was based on a true story, it was still a book, a work of (mostly) fiction. The film underplayed the fact part even more, that's for certainty.

Ben (Jim Sturgess) is a gifted student. He goes to MIT, working part-time in a store, and yet he couldn't afford to earn US$300,000 for his tuition fee nor could he easily earn a scholarship. Shortly, his gift in Maths attracted the eyes of Professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) who has been setting up a team of gifted students but for an entirely different reason. This team is taking Vegas by the storm. Utilizing their capability in applying their Maths skill to count cards in Black Jack.

I found that learning about the methods of counting card through written words is far more interesting than seeing it through moving pictures. Well, it's probably because i had read the written words before i see the moving pictures. All things considered, i had more fun and more hyped reading the book than seeing the film.

Hollywood tends to downplay half of everything and overplay the other half in their movies. I don't really mind with it. The only time i'd go through a two hours of film to see an average Joe in his most average is when i'm fully refreshed and at my sharpest moment which is a rather rare occasion. Moreover, for some certain aspect, i'd prefer to see an overplayed something than its downplayed counterpart. Smartness (or genius-ness) is one that i'd like to see it overplayed. However, in 21, all these supposedly smart people were downplayed in excess. In the book (here i am, making yet another comparison), the team members personalities were unequivocally superior in their intelligence level that it's fairly easy to believe that somehow they could pull the feat to "Bring the House Down" (it's the title of the book). In the film, not so much. Aside of the fact that i'm having trouble to make myself believe that Jim Sturgess, or Kate Bosworth is indeed a genius, their inconsistencies with the characters made me frown more often than what i would've liked. The other team members? They were just mannequins, at best. Not interesting at all.

My other problem which is more prominent and easily eclipsed my former problem with the characters, is the sluggish pace of the film. It took almost forty minutes before the film took off to Vegas, and it's running for more than two hours. I'd say cut forty minutes out of this film and it might won't be too heavy of a burden to bear. And why do we had to have a bedroom scene?