21 (2008 film)

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21
Promotional poster
Directed by	Robert Luketic
Produced by	Kevin Spacey Brett Ratner Dana Brunetti Michael De Luca
Written by	Ben Mezrich Peter Steinfeld Allan Loeb
Starring	Jim Sturgess Kevin Spacey Kate Bosworth Laurence Fishburne Aaron Yoo
Music by	David Sardy
Cinematography	Russell Carpenter
Editing by	Elliot Graham
Distributed by	Columbia Pictures
Release date(s)	28 March 2008 10 April 2008 11 April 2008 17 April 2008 9 May 2008 23 April 2008 6 June 2008
Running time	123 min
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$35 million
Official website
IMDb profile

21 (referred to in advertising as "21: The Movie") is a 2008 drama film from Columbia Pictures. It is directed by Australian director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) and stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, and Laurence Fishburne. The film is inspired by the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team. The film draws from Bringing Down the House, the best-selling book by Ben Mezrich.

Its tagline is "They proved Vegas was beatable...by beating the hell out of it."

1 Plot
2 Cast
- 2.1 Controversy
3 Filming
4 Critical reception
5 Box office performance
6 Factual inaccuracies
7 Soundtrack
- 7.1 Tracklisting
8 See also
9 Notes
10 External links

[edit] Plot

MIT student Ben Campbell is accepted into Harvard Medical School. He is interviewed as a potential candidate for the prestigious Robinson Scholarship, which will pay for all his school-related expenses. Ben is urged to write an essay which will make him "stand out"; in other words, an essay which will dazzle the recruiter.

During an advanced math class, Professor Micky Rosa challenges Ben with a three door variable change problem, which Campbell succeeds in solving. Rosa invites Ben to join MIT's five-member Blackjack Team. The team uses a complex language of hand signals, "spotters" and "big players" to count cards and win large amounts of money at various casinos. Ben has to be urged, but after due consideration he agrees and is welcomed onto the team. After weeks of intensive training, Campbell is given a test at a underground casino, which he passes.

The team goes to Las Vegas. Ben's performance impresses Rosa, while provoking jealousy from teammate Fisher. One evening, a drunken Fisher sits at Ben's table. Fisher starts talking about the "retard" in Rain Man. He then causes a fight by spilling a drink on the table, which erupts into gunshots being fired. Rosa kicks Fisher off the team and sends him home. All the while, security chief Cole Williams monitors the blackjack team, particularly Campbell.

Back at MIT, Campbell accidentally botches his group project (by giving his friend Miles the incorrect microchip) for the 2.0.9 competition. His teammates angrily dismiss him from the project. All of this provokes a severe inner conflict during Ben's next trip to Vegas. He winds up losing all the money he had that night. An exasperated Rosa goes home, promising that Ben will reimburse him for the entire loss. Campbell and his three teammates bankroll the rest of their money. They go to the Riviera. Williams finds Ben and beats him up, then lets him go with a dire warning.

Campbell returns to MIT, only to find his dorm room ransacked; even worse, the blackjack winnings he had hidden in the ceiling have been taken. Campbell suspects that Rosa is behind it, but cannot prove anything, so he makes an offer: he'll win back the money he lost, before biometric software takes over at casinos. Rosa takes him up on it. Disguised, Campbell and the rest of Micky's Blackjack Team go back to the Planet Hollywood. They rake in over $650,000 before Williams finds them again and gives chase. The team members rapidly bag their chips, then split up and flee through the casino. During the chase, Ben switches bags with teammate Jill Taylor, and then with Rosa.

Rosa gives Williams the slip by ducking into a limousine just before it leaves, only to find that the bags were switched and the driver is the casino manager. It turns out that Williams, who has been trying to catch Rosa for over a decade, made a deal with Campbell, promising to allow him to make a killing in return for Rosa. Williams betrays this deal by forcing Campbell to give up his chips at gunpoint.

Ben closes his story with the following summation: throughout his life, he won a fortune two times, and it was stolen both times. Sure enough, the recruiter is dazzled.

[edit] Cast

Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell, the protagonist, an MIT student incredibly good with numbers, but in need of money, who becomes a member of the blackjack team. Based on Jeff Ma.^[1]
Kevin Spacey as Mickey Rosa, mathematics professor and the corrupt leader of the blackjack team. Based on a composite of J.P. Massar and Johnny Chang^[2]
Colin Angle as Professor Hanes, who awards the tech team for its robot.
Kate Bosworth as Jill Taylor, a member of the blackjack team. Based on Jane Willis.
Laurence Fishburne as Cole Williams, a casino security agent, who becomes determined to take down the team. Based on employees of Griffin Investigations.^[3]
Aaron Yoo as Choi, a member of the blackjack team
Liza Lapira as Kianna, another blackjack team member
Josh Gad as Miles Connolly
Sam Golzari as MIT student Cam Kazazi. Based on Matt Lau.
Jacob Pitts as Fisher, another blackjack team member. Based on Mike Aponte.
Jack McGee as Terry
Roger Dillingham, Jr. as Head Bouncer

Ma, the person whom Ben Campbell is based on (known as Kevin Lewis in Mezrich's book), makes a cameo as Jeffrey, a dealer in Planet Hollywood.

This is the third film in which Spacey and Bosworth have starred together. The first was Beyond the Sea, which Spacey directed, and the second was Superman Returns. The two will again star together in the Superman Returns sequel Superman: The Man of Steel. This is also the second film that Bosworth and director Luketic have made together, the first being Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!.

[edit] Controversy

Although the main characters upon which the film 21 is based were Asian-American, studio executives determined that "most of the film’s actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female."^[4]

Supporters of the decision to cast Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell claim that producers simply sought the best actor for the job, regardless of race. Ultimately, this meant passing over many Asian-American talents in favor of London-born Jim Sturgess, who required a dialect coach to speak American English. ^[5] MIT Blackjack Team member Jane Willis (who is Caucasian), upon whom the character Jill Taylor was based, elaborated upon how race and gender were an integral part of the team's dynamic. In recounting the story of when Jeff Ma introduced her to the MIT Blackjack Team, she said, "I think it dawned on [Ma] that we could play blackjack and also give the team, which was mostly Asian and male, a little diversity."^[6]

Nick Rogers of The Enterprise wrote "The real-life students mostly were Asian-Americans, but “21” whitewashes its cast and disappointingly lumps its only major Asian actors (Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira) into one-note designations as the team’s kleptomaniac and a slot-playing “loser.”^[7]

Posters calling the film racist could be seen in New York's Chinatown.^[8]

Jeff Ma, who was the real-life inspiration for the character Ben Campbell, was accused of being a "race traitor" on several blogs. In response, Ma said, "I'm not sure they understand how little control I had in the movie-making process; I didn't get to cast it."^[9]

[edit] Filming

The scenes in the MIT bar were actually filmed at the People's Republic. MIT would not allow filming on campus. Filming also took place at Harvard Medical School^[10] and the Christian Science Center in Boston, Massachusetts. MIT school and dorm interiors, the gymnasium, and the alumni reception were all shot at Boston University.^[11]

The movie began filming from March 2007.^[12]

[edit] Critical reception

21 received generally negative to mixed reviews from critics. As of April 2, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 32% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 107 reviews.^[13] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.^[14] However it has a 7.0 rating on imdb. The movie received an average score of 54.1% from 60 film critics according to Movie Tab. ^[15]

[edit] Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $24.105m US $ in 2,648 theaters in the United States and Canada, averaging $9,103 per venue and ranking #1 at the box office.^[16] The film was also the #1 film in its second weekend of release, losing just 36% of its audience, grossing $15,337,418, expanding to 2,653 theaters, and averaging $5,781 per venue. The film dropped to #3 in its third weekend, losing only 32% of its audience, grossing $10,470,173, expanding to 2,736 theaters, and averaging $3,827 per venue. It fell to #6 in its fourth weekend, losing 47% of its audience, grossing $5,520,362 expanding to 2,903 theaters and averaging $1,902 per venue.

As of May 31, 2008, it has grossed a total of $130,433,929 worldwide — $81,159,365 in the United States and Canada and $49,274,564 in other territories.^[17]

21 will be release on DVD and Blu-ray on July 22nd.

[edit] Factual inaccuracies

This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims.
Please improve the article by adding references. See the talk page for details. (May 2008)

In the film, "spotters" stayed at the blackjack table continuing to play after the "big player" joined the game. The reasoning given was so that the spotter could help keep the card count, in case the big player became distracted, and also to be the first line of defense to warn the big player should trouble arise (e.g. casino personnel becoming suspicious). According to real-life accounts, the spotter would leave the table soon after signaling the big player that the deck was hot (i.e. the card count was good). This was done so as to allow a greater chance for the big-betting player to receive winning cards, as more players at the table would lower this probability.

Many details related to casino game protection mechanisms were simplified or incorrect. "Biometric software" seems to have stood in for a wide array of new technologies that are changing the nature of game protection.

In the beginning of the film, Ben cycles toward MIT on the Harvard Bridge. In the next scene, he is instead shown cycling off Anderson Bridge which leads to Harvard's Kennedy School. Immediately after, he is shown arriving on MIT's campus.

After Ben and Jill leave the People's Republic they are seen having a conversation on a Red Line Train. In the wide shot, the destination display near the ceiling can clearly be seen to say that the train is "Express to Davis". However, city lights can be seen reflected in the windows behind them. The trip from Central Square (where the Republic is located) to Davis is entirely underground. Furthermore, when Jill exits the train, both the announcer and platform sign indicate that the train has stopped at Quincy Center. Davis is three stops North of Central, whereas Quincy Center is at the completely opposite end of the line. An express train to Davis would not have been headed in that direction, let alone stop at the station.

[edit] Soundtrack

21

Soundtrack by Various Artists
Released	March 18, 2008
Genre	Soundtrack
Label	Columbia
Professional reviews
All Music Guide link

[edit] Tracklisting

^[18]

The Rolling Stones — "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (Remixed by Soulwax) (6:07)
MGMT — "Time to Pretend" (Super Clean Version) (4:20)
LCD Soundsystem — "Big Ideas" (5:41)
D. Sardy featuring Liela Moss — "Giant" (3:42)
Amon Tobin — "Always" (3:38)
Peter Bjorn and John — "Young Folks" (4:37)
Junkie XL featuring Electrocute — "Mad Pursuit" (4:16)
Get Shakes — "Sister Self Doubt" (4:22)
The Aliens — "I Am The Unknown" (5:27)
Rihanna — "Shut Up And Drive" (3:34)
Knivez Out — "Alright" (3:31)
Domino — "Tropical Moonlight" (3:28)
Unkle — "Hold My Hand" (4:58)
Mark Ronson featuring Kasabian — "L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)" (3:32)
Broadcast — "Tender Buttons" (2:51)