Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Audience Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
Binding: DVD
Brand: Sony
EAN: 0043396214552
Format: AC-3
Label: Sony Pictures
Languages: Array
Manufacturer: Sony Pictures
MPN: COLD21455D
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Sony Pictures
Region Code: 99
Release Date: 2008-07-22
Running Time: 123
Studio: Sony Pictures
Theatrical Release Date: 2008-03-28

Inspired by the true story of MIT students who mastered the art of card counting and took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings. Looking for a way to pay for tuition, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) finds himself quietly recruited by MIT's most gifted students in a daring plot to break Vegas. With the help of a brilliant statistics professor (Kevin Spacey) and armed with fake IDs, intelligence and a complicated system of counting cards, Ben and his friends succeed in breaking the impenetrable casinos. Now, his challenge is keeping the numbers straight and staying one step ahead of the casinos before it all spirals out of control.
An unconvincing exercise in moral complexity, 21 is based on Ben Mezrich's book Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions. Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) plays brilliant, blue-collar scholar Ben Campbell, whose doubts that he'll win a scholarship to Harvard Medical School compel him to join a secret, M.I.T. gang of math whiz kids. Under the silky but chilling command of a math professor (Kevin Spacey), Jim and the others master card counting, i.e., the statistical analysis of cards dealt in blackjack games. The team lives a humdrum existence during the week, but on weekends in Sin City, the students are rolling in cash, going to exclusive clubs, and feeling on top of the world. (Ben even gets the girl: a comely, fellow counter played by Kate Bosworth.) Despite all that success, Ben feels ethically compromised, and indeed director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde), in the old tradition of American movies, plays it both ways where fun vices are concerned. On the one hand, it feels so good; on the other, ahem, we know it's wrong. That studied ambivalence proves wearing after a while, making the most interesting character in the film a casino watchdog played by Laurence Fishburne. A master at reading the emotions of gamblers beating the house with a scam, he's admirable for being good at his job, but repellent for wrecking the faces of counters in casino dungeons. He's all about moral complexity in the tradition of anti-heroes, and a truly provocative element in an otherwise superficial movie. --Tom Keogh

Beyond 21

On Blu-ray

Read the book 21 was based on

UMD for PSP

Stills from 21 (click for larger image)

Customer Rating:
Summary: Slick &Entertaining, But Far From Reality
Comment: I enjoyed the movie because it was entertaining all the way. It was slick and had interesting characters. The only problem was the last half of it where credibility when flying out the window. The movie is all about supposedly very intelligent people, led by the smartest of the all the group, the only veteran in this college age-dominated cast: "Professor Mickey Rosa," played by Kevin Spacey. Well, Rosa would not do what he did here, for starters, meaning trusting an untrustworthy and revenge-seeking kid. If you've seen the movie you know what I mean. The others in the group wouldn't go along with the renegade - "Ben Campbell" (Jim Sturgess) - either. There is no way this kid is going to totally outsmart the professor, but it makes for good Hollywood dramatics.

There are a bunch of other holes, too, such as wanting to be anonymous but going back to the same place; a ridiculous chase scene through the casino gambling area and kitchen; hand signals that a junior detective could see (and are never changed!) and - maybe the worst - winning tons of money in sessions. Nobody with half a brain would win much at any session, because it draws attention. You win a little here, a little there and go from place-to-place and remain anonymous. This movie is based on a true story, and I can guarantee you that's what the MIT students did in real life - not what you see here.

Still, facts aside, it's still a fun movie to watch and since entertainment is the name of the game with films, it succeeds and I still give it an "8" star rating for that. At no time was I bored and overly insulted at the dumbness that I would have stopped playing the DVD. It will hold your interest and you'll be thoroughly entertained, especially if you don't know a lot about blackjack and how casinos operate.

Oh, as a postscript: they don't beat up "card counters" in back rooms of casinos. If they think you are counting cards, which I don't believe is illegal, they still have the right to kick you out of their establishment.....but they ask you nicely and you are removed from the floor with no big scene or violence. They have your picture, there are security people everywhere, and you aren't allowed back.

So, enjoy the film but don't believe the screenplay.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: 3 Stars Good but not Great
Comment: Many of the other reviews talk about the storyline but I am writing this just as one man's opinion. 21 was a fun movie to watch. There is nothing extremely captivating about the movie. I was honestly more enthusiastic to watch the movie than I should have been. Something about the story line of going to Vegas to beat the odds is fun and it gets the addreniline pumping even as you watch but in the end you know it will come crashing down.

The bottom line about this movie is that it has a decent story line and is entertaining. 3 stars is a perfect rating because although I would recommend it to most people, if you have something else you have been really wanting to buy then buy that movie instead of 21

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Card Counting in Vegas
Comment: A movie that is lightly based on a true story of MIT students counting cards in Las Vegas to pay their way through college.

On a positive note, this movie was cute and the acting was great. I love Kevin Spacey. The ending had a couple of twists and turns that I didn't see coming, and it made me smile at the end.

On the other hand, it was just a little ho-hum. Nothing spectacular. I think it could have been a little more exciting and visual.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Definitely a chicken dinner of a movie...
Comment: I really really liked this movie. It was different, it was interesting, it was fun. And it was based around real events. Kevin Spacey is like icing on the cake, he did a great job. I was surprised I like this one so much, it was a little bit of a hidden gem for me. I watched it basically because I wanted something and it was available :) It kept my attention and the math/cheat stuff kept me complete enraptured. Awesomeness!

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Customer Rating:
Summary: too much dramatization and unbelieveable from time to time
Comment: this movie has a lot of dramatization. and things hard to believe, such as beating up a card counter... many books i read said that they only tell you not to play at the blackjack table ever again. i'd recommend watching Breaking Vegas (2004) which is a more accurate story of what actually happened.

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