Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.
21 is a competent but formulaic rise-and-fall gambling drama. The card-counting premise is inherently engaging and the Las Vegas sequences have slick energy, but the plot follows a predictable arc with few surprises — talented outsider joins secretive group, gets corrupted by success, faces consequences. The acting is serviceable but uneven; Jim Sturgess is likable but flat, and the supporting cast is underused. Cinematography hits the glossy Hollywood standard for casino films without doing anything distinctive. The film offers little novelty, treading well-worn 'gifted kid goes wrong' territory with a by-the-numbers screenplay loosely based on a true story. The ending feels rushed and overly tidy, resolving conflicts too conveniently to be satisfying.