|
©Sony
Pictures
Kate Bosworth, Kieu
Chinh and Jim Sturgess in 21.
by Sean
O’Connell, Gazette
Movie Critic
21
Directed by: Robert Luketic
Running Time: 122 minutes
Principal Actors:
Kevin Spacey — Micky Rosa
Jim Sturgess — Ben Campbell
Kate Bosworth — Jill Taylor
Rated: PG-13
Grade: *** (out of 5)
Have you ever heard the phrase
“The house always wins” in reference to gambling
at a casino? Well, when it comes to 21, a
flashy adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s compelling
New York Times bestseller, the book always wins.
You can start with Mezrich’s superior title
Bringing Down the House, which unfortunately
belongs to a regrettable Steve Martin-Queen
Latifah comedy. Changes, not always for the
better, extend from there.
Both the book and the movie recount how a team
of math whizzes from the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology made millions counting cards at
Las Vegas blackjack tables. Mezrich was handed
the story by team member “Kevin Lewis” — a bogus
moniker used by team member Jeff Ma. Under the
guidance of former card counter Mickey Rosa, the
MIT geniuses milked Vegas, Atlantic City and a
slew of riverboat casinos east and west of the
Mississippi River until sophisticated
facial-recognition software made it impossible
for them to complete their elaborate scams.
Bringing Down the House puts forward a
number of interesting arguments, most of which
21 ignores. The book explains how Rosa
insisted on recruiting mostly Asian and Persian
numbers gurus because inherently racist casino
owners would dismiss them as heirs to the Sony
Corporation or children of wealthy sheiks who
were content to gamble away daddy’s fortune.
White kids blowing money at the card tables,
however, would raise unwanted red flags.
So who does 21 director Robert Luketic
cast as his MIT card counters? Marketable
lily-white bombshell Kate Bosworth, British
charmer Jim Sturgess and American actor Jacob
Pitts. All three are decent actors, though they
wouldn’t last ten minutes in the bowels of the
famed Bellagio resort and casino. Aaron Yoo is
the lone Asian actor in the ensemble. He has
precious few lines.
Mezrich goes on to explain that card counters
have little to fear in Vegas today because major
corporations own the top casinos, and they’d
never risk the possibility of a lawsuit by
strong-arming a patron in a clichéd back-room
encounter. But that’s not dramatic, and so 21
hires Laurence Fishburne as a security chief
eager to make a bust because the
facial-recognition software is making him
irrelevant. The actor is adequately menacing,
though the nugget-sized rings on his clenched
fingers steal his thunder.
Calling a book better than its movie is hardly
earth shattering, and 21 doesn’t go
completely bust. It just softens its stance as
screenwriters Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb
attach a number of generic Hollywood elements to
Mezrich’s unique story. Even the Mickey Rosa
character, so hideous in the book, almost
reaches mentor status before Kevin Spacey
infuses him with the proper sleaze. Seeing
Spacey freeze out his cohorts doesn’t excuse the
Scooby-Doo footrace that concludes 21, but those
going all-in on the premise won’t care too much.
For a complete listing of current movies
playing in the Hammonton area, click on
“Entertainment” and “Local Movie Listings.”
|
