Columbia Pictures21 hardly hit when hitting theaters March 28. The book based true story of six M.I.T. students swindling Las Vegas with savvy skills was highly anticipated and fell dramatically.
Ben Campbell, played by Jim Sturgess, is a reserved college student who is in need of tuition money. Campbell starts running with a crowd of peers that have figured out a way to rake in lavish amounts of money, card counting. Campbell and crew go to Vegas for the weekend and together their system of winning black jack equals big winnings.
“It looks suspenseful. There’s never been a movie like it,” Cate Romano, a hopeful movie-goer and sophomore graphic design major, said.
Romano’s right. It looks suspenseful. The previews did the job, but the two hour film lost that rush and fast.
Campbell could not do it alone and his most attractive teammate, Jill Taylor, is played by Kate Bosworth.
Bosworth alone is drawing in the male viewers. Jason Moran, sophomore English and communication major, was smitten by her appearance in other films as well as 21’s previews.
Kevin Spacey, a big draw, plays the unconventional professor Micky Rosa, who has a major role in the card counting scheme. Spacey not only acts in the film but was one of the three producers along with Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca and three executive producers.
Jeremy Ukrainski, sophomore accounting major, was eager for the debut, yet Kevin Spacey acting in the movie was a negative for him. Although Spacey was one of the few characters that really hit the mark.
The main character, Campbell, gets a newfound confidence with the winning streak but he has to be leery. Although counting cards isn’t illegal it’s greatly frowned upon. The casinos have muscle and aren’t afraid to use it.
Overall, the movie looked great in theory. The cinematography and appearance seemed exciting yet youthful but that was the best part. The actual characters weren’t believable. Not to say nap worthy but the fake thrilling attributes were nothing you’d dash to call a friend about.
21 made a real-life interesting tail into an MTV generation production and that’s probably the only audience which really came away raving.
