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Movies Forum Index » Movie Reviews Forum » Review: 21 (2008)
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 Posted: Tue Apr 01, 2008 4:49 pm |
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21
a little review by Sam Osborn of www.TheMovieMammal.com
March is a fine time to dump off mini-blockbusters like 21. Last year
saw Disturbia, brandishing a similarly rising star in Shia LaBeouf as
21 has with Jim Sturgess. Not likely to rake in as much coin as other
Summertime tentpoles, these medium-sized studio pics serve up medium-
sized entertainment. They're mild and standard, passable and
pleasing.
Drowning in student loans and facing another $300,000 for graduate
school at Harvard Med, Ben Campbell is a longshot candidate for an
extremely selective full-ride scholarship. He's told he needs life
experience; something that will jump off the page of his application.
Some brush with his own existence that makes him worthy of a
scholarship of such magnitude. Hmmmm. And from this early scene we can
prophesy the whole trajectory of the film. But no matter, Ben's
alternately heroic and harrowing adventures in cheating Vegas should
hold excitement enough to erase the boredom of a predictable plot
device. But as his adventures are alternately heroic and harrowing,
the film version of this true-to-life story is alternately fun and
forgettable.
Kevin Spacey quickly slithers in, smiling like Lucifer himself,
charming and wisecracking Ben onto his team of professional card
counters. Kate Bosworth's there, playing Jill Taylor, MIT's "it" girl.
And so too is Aaron Yoo from Disturbia, ironically playing the same
nerdy Asian hipster he was cast for last year. The con is a weekend
gig, flying to Vegas to work their legal scam at the blackjack tables,
pooling their playacting and mathematical efforts to siphon out tens
of thousands of dollars in two nights' work. Romance is forged and
hubris grown as Ben blossoms into the team's rookie hotshot, all the
while Cole Williams (Laurence Fisburne), the old-school security
marshal for the casino, zeroes in on his prey.
21 has less wrong with it than it might have at less assured hands.
Robert Luketic, director of such mini-blockbusters as Monster In-Law
and Win a Date With Ted Hamilton!, has experience with this type of
blandness. His characters, though maybe realistic, fail to be
cinematically interesting. When Ben could spiral into greed or women,
drugs or liquor, he instead has a night spent sick with a case of mild
cockiness. The romance is stilted and cut short, Kate Bosworth
spending more time in an MIT sweatshirt than anything else; the
villains, Mr. Spacey and Mr. Fishburne, churn out their usual
satisfying spectacles; and Jim Sturgess only proves that he can carry
a film without having to sing Beatles songs. There's very little wrong
with 21. Only, there's very little to remember, too.
-TheMovieMammal.com
21: Directed by Robert Luketic. Screenplay by Peter Steinfeld, Allan
Loeb (based on the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich).
Starring Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth. MPAA
Classification: PG-13 |
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