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Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira ... see more see more... , Jacob Pitts , Laurence Fishburne , Jack McGee , Josh Gad , Sam Golzari , Helen Carey , Jack Gilpin , Donna Lows , Butch Williams , Jeffrey Ma , Frank Patton , Steven Richard Vezina , Chaska T. Werner , Kyle D. Morris , Ernell Manabat , Frankie DeAngelo , Marcus Weiss , Anthony DiMaria , Christopher Michael Holley , Scott Clark Beringer , Terasa Livingstone , Jeff Dashnaw , Colin Angle , Supriya Chakrabarti , Bradley Thoennes , Kieu Chinh , Alice Lo , Sally Livingston , Henry Houh , Frank Chen , Spencer Garrett , Celeste Oliva , Tom McGowan , Ruby Hondros , Christian Mello , Greg Seymore

Director Robert Luketic adapts Ben Mezrich's best-seller Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions to tell the true-life tale of six genius students ... read more read more...who used their brains to beat considerable odds. Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) may be shy, but his wallflower reputation betrays his inner brilliance. As smart as Ben may be, however, if he can't pay his tuition he'll be kicked out of M.I.T. Fortunately, the answer to all of Ben's problems is right there in the cards. Recruited to join a team of extremely gifted students who have used their mastery of numbers to beat the odds at blackjack, Ben procures a fake identity in order to join the casino scammers and their brilliant leader -- eccentric math professor and stats genius Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) -- in some highly profitable weekend excursions to Las Vegas. Counting cards isn't illegal, and by using a complex series of signals, this team has cracked the code. Of course, it doesn't take long for Ben to become seduced by the glamorous Las Vegas lifestyle, and the attention afforded to him by his sexy teammate Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth) finds him pushing his luck to the absolute limits. Laurence Fishburne stars as Cole Williams, the Sin City security chief who catches on to the group and makes it his mission to expose their lucrative blackjack scam. ~ Jason Buchanan, Rovi

Flixster Users

73% liked it

328,827 ratings

Critics

35% liked it

162 critics

PG-13, 2 hr. 2 min.

Directed by: Robert Luketic

Release Date: March 28, 2008

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DVD Release Date: July 22, 2008

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Stats: 26,097 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (26,097)

  • SirPant
    January 3, 2012
    SirPant
    And the award for most annoying collective cast of young people goes to....

    Honestly, I'll let Jim Sturgess off slightly as he has redeemed himself since but watching the rest of the cast in this painful 'biased on a true story drama' nearly made me pull my hair out. If watchi... read moreng a bunch of smug and arrogant youngsters get rich is your idea of fun then this is the film for you but if you want an entertaining and intelligent film about some kind of clever Las Vegas Casino heist then go elsewhere, this isn't the film for you.
  • TheGame90
    September 18, 2011
    TheGame90
    I think this movie was pretty impressive. It's a pretty advanced movie. Nice to see Kevin Spacey mentoring all theese young unknown actors.
  • ythelastman89
    August 16, 2011
    ythelastman89
    21 is just a genuinely fun movie that never tries to be more than it is and always keeps you interested. Most of this is due to the multi-talented British Superstar, Jim Sturgess. He takes what could've been a typical and flat character and morphs it into someone who's so much mo... read morere. You just feel so much for his character because you feel like it's a real person trying to get into a school and not a movie character. His natural talent and charm only help this further. The ensemble cast is also really good including a Kate Bosworth that's different from the usual routine, Kevin Spacey being as convincingly bizarre as usual and Morpheus as an intimidating security guard. Now the overall story is extremely interesting and it's a lot different from what you usually see in an average movie about college kids. It focuses on what makes Ben such a great person and then lets you get absorbed in the high roller lifestyle as well. On top of that, it's well made and doesn't feel an amateurish attempt. This isn't a heist movie like Ocean's 11 or a movie about cards like Rounders; it's a movie about one person's will to do whatever it takes to chase a dream. It's easy to blow this over since it wasn't all that successful or critically acclaimed, but it's so much more worthwhile than it had to be. Given the chance, I think most people would enjoy it just as much.
  • xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    June 30, 2011
    xXGiNoBiLiPRXx
    Inspired by the true story of five students who changed the game forever.

    Saw it again! Well it was a very good movie surprisingly so.You kinda think you know what's gonna happen but somehow it changes somehow. Great movie! Good cast, very recommended to all.

    Ben Campbell is a ... read moreshy, brilliant M.I.T. student who needing to pay school tuition finds the answers in the cards. He is recruited to join a group of the school's most gifted students that heads to Vegas every weekend armed with fake identities and the know-how to turn the odds at blackjack in their favor. With unorthodox math professor and stats genius Micky Rosa leading the way, they've cracked the code. By counting cards and employing an intricate system of signals, the team can beat the casinos big time. Seduced by the money, the Vegas lifestyle, and by his smart and sexy teammate, Jill Taylor, Ben begins to push the limits. Though counting cards isn't illegal, the stakes are high, and the challenge becomes not only keeping the numbers straight, but staying one step ahead of the casinos' menacing enforcer: Cole Williams.
  • wildaly14
    June 15, 2011
    wildaly14
    Decent caper flick.
  • jamers2011
    May 11, 2011
    jamers2011
    I loved this film! In my opinion, it's extremely underrated. I really liked the story and I thought there was good attention to detail. Pretty good direction by Robert Luketic...it seemed like every scene was executed to make sure it allowed the story to progress. I loved the cas... read moret...Kevin Spacey is great, and who doesn't like Laurence Fishburne? Great performance by Jim Sturgess, and Kate Bosworth is nice too. I'm surprised critics don't like this...I thought it very good. Good story, strong cast, good thrills, emotion. It delivered for me. I'd definitely watch it again, it's kind of a guilty pleasure kind of movie.
  • garyX
    January 21, 2011
    garyX
    A group of brilliant mathematics students go to Vegas to make big money counting cards. 21 is a bit like Ferris Bueller's Day Off crossed with Ocean's Eleven. It's an interesting story based on true life events and it did make me wonder how the casinos get away with treating peop... read morele like this; they come up with a way to fleece the public out of their money at will, but if anyone knows how to play and win (without cheating I may add) they get the crap kicked out of them and thrown out...basically anyone can play as long as they lose. Well, I'm sold...The biggest problem with 21 is the fact that no-one involved were very likable; they're just a bunch of selfish, smart assed kids led by Kevin Spacey on autopilot playing cards and counting. Not the most exciting combination. It was nice to see Laurence Fishburne play a bad ass again and I was interested enough to see what happened, but I was never truly hooked. Add a bland cast and a director desperately trying to make Blackjack look like The Fast And The Furious and you have a mediocre pseudo heist movie that passes the time pleasantly enough but is rather difficult to care about.
  • helpahorse
    August 19, 2010
    helpahorse
    I've seen this movie a bunch of times, and it is a pretty decent film. The acting is great, the storyline is really interesting, and some parts of the movie were really intense.

    While I did enjoy this film, there were some things I really couldn't get by. The first thing was b... read morey far the music. The music in this film did not fit the movie at all. The opening credits song and pretty much every song after that was really bad and made the movie less enjoyable. I think if they could've gotten better music, it would've made the movie flow a lot better and kept the viewers interest.

    The second thing I didn't like was the script. Some of the insults the script had the characters hurl at each other really didn't seem like insults to me...and I was embarrassed for the people that actually had to say them. "You arrogant little infant"...what? Who says that? That's not offensive, it's funny, and it wasn't trying to be.

    The movie also makes it seem like counting cards is really easy to do. At the end of the movie, I felt like if I wanted to, I could count cards and win a load of cash at a casino. Of course, counting cards is not that easy, and there's more involved than just +1, +2, and awkward body gestures.

    This movie is a very enjoyable movie, and I would recommend it to others. It's not the best movie ever made, but it's okay.
  • bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    July 23, 2010
    bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbb1
    B+
  • fb733768972
    July 20, 2010
    fb733768972
    21 tries very hard to be a great film, and pulls it off great. Leaving some lack of story behind in it's trails, while managing to keep an audience focussed for over 2 hours, it becomes a very enjoyable premise.

View All 21 Reviews

Critic Reviews

Peter Rainer
October 18, 2008
Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor

If only director Robert Luketic and screenwriters Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb had not opted for glitz. As filmmakers, they're playing for very low stakes. Full Review

J. R. Jones
March 31, 2008
J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

The students are so blandly written this never builds any suspense, though it probably has some value as an empowerment fantasy for debt-ridden collegians. Full Review

Richard Roeper
March 31, 2008
Richard Roeper, Ebert & Roeper

Although it's definitely a fictionalization of a true story, they get the essence of this insanely crazy double life that these kids led as they were breaking the bank in Vegas.

Jim Emerson
March 28, 2008
Jim Emerson, Chicago Sun-Times

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 insura... Full Review

Mick LaSalle
March 28, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

A movie with an irresistible premise that ultimately collapses around the whole issue of motivation. Full Review

John DeFore
March 28, 2008
John DeFore, Hollywood Reporter

Real-life rags-to-riches Vegas scheme makes for glossy if lightweight fun.

Claudia Puig
March 28, 2008
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Repetitive, implausible and overlong. Full Review

Peter Howell
March 28, 2008
Peter Howell, Toronto Star

When Spacey and Fishburne really go at each other, 21 finally starts to add up to something. Full Review

Joanne Kaufman
March 28, 2008
Joanne Kaufman, Wall Street Journal

A none-too-winning blend of the unsettling and the unsurprising. Full Review

Stephen Whitty
March 28, 2008
Stephen Whitty, Newark Star-Ledger

This is really Spacey's picture, from the moment he fixes his gaze on Sturgess to the day when he finally, brutally cuts him loose. It's a fun performance, but a quiet one. Full Review

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