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2008 American film

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

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 blackjack was beatable...by beating the hell out of it."

Plot

Ben Campbell is a petifile that likes little boys at MIT who has just been accepted into a shitty as school Harvard Medical School. The movie begins with him talking to a man who is associated with the Robinson Scholarship. One person is awarded the scholarship, which pays for all expenses for school. The recruiter tells Campbell that he needs to write an essay that will dazzle them, that will make Campbell stand out.

During a class, Professor Micky Rosa challenges Campbell with the Monty Hall problem, and Campbell's answer satisfies him. He is then invited to play on the blackjack team at MIT. There are five members and they all use a complex language of hand signals, spotters, and big players to count cards and win money at the tables. Campbell initially declines, but eventually joins the team. After weeks of intensive training, he is given a test in a local bar that he passes. He then joins the team to go to Las Vegas.

At Las Vegas, Campbell's performance impresses Rosa, provoking jealousy from fellow team member Fisher. On a later trip, a drunken Fisher sits at Campbell's table and starts talking about the "retard" in Rain Man and how he makes a killing at the blackjack tables. He then spills some of his drink on the table, causing a fight. Rosa kicks Fisher off the team and sends him home.

Meanwhile, Cole Williams, a security guard, monitors Campbell. During one of his weeks in MIT, he accidentally gives the wrong part to his two teammates of the 2.0.9 competition. His teammates kick him off the team. Campbell is very distracted during the next trip to Vegas and loses $200,000. An angry Rosa goes home and says that Campbell will pay him back for every cent that he lost. Campbell and his three teammates decide to bankroll their own money and go to the Riveria. During the session, however, Williams finds Campbell and beats him up before letting him go.

Campbell comes back to find that his money (which he stored in the ceiling ofhis dorm room) is missing. He then asks Rosa to become a big player, promising to take away the most amount of money ever. Rosa agrees. All of them wear disguises and return to the Planet Hollywood casino. They rake in a large take, but Williams finds them again, and chases the team throughout the casino. Campbell and Rosa shove their chips into a bag and flee. During the chase, Campbell switches the bags with his girlfriend Jill Taylor. Campbell and Rosa then break up in different directions, and tosses the bag loaded with candy into Rosa's hands.

Rosa gets away and dives into a limo, only to find that the limo is being driven by the casino manager. It is revealed, in flashback, that when Williams was beating Campbell up, he instead made a deal with him. Williams would permit Campbell to come back one more time and make a killing, as long as he gave up Rosa. Williams catches Taylor and Campbell as they walk out, brabdishes a gun, and tells them to toss the bag of casino chips to them. Campbell reluctantly complies.

In the present, Campbell finishes telling his story to the recruiter, stating that in his life, he won a fortune twice – and lost it two times.

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.
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
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.
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!.

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."

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. 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 that we could play blackjack and also give the team, which was mostly Asian and male, a little diversity."

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.”

Posters calling the film racist could be seen in New York's Chinatown.

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."

Production

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 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.

The movie began filming from March 2007.

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. Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 28 reviews. However it has a 7.0 rating on imdb.

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $24,105,943 in 2,648 theaters in the United States and Canada, averaging $9,103 per venue and ranking #1 at the box office. 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 April 27, 2008, it has grossed a total of $116,403,094 worldwide — $78,959,237 in the United States and Canada and $37,443,857 in other territories.

Factual inaccuracies

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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.

Ben Campbell gets the Monty Hall question wrong. Mickey Rosa states the question incorrectly. You are only guaranteed to improve your odds if Monty Hall always opens a door and always gives you a chance to switch your choice. If he only does that when you guessed correctly the first time, switching would always be a bad idea.

When Ben is celebrating his 21st birthday, he refers to the numbers on his cake (0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, ...) as the Fibonacci series, when it is in fact the Fibonacci sequence. It is not considered a series because the terms of the sequence are defined recursively.