videoinside.org | 21 (2008 film)

MIT student Ben Campbell is accepted into Harvard Medical School, but he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition. He is interviewed as a potential candidate for the prestigious Robinson Scholarship, which will pay for all his school-related expenses. Despite boasting stats such as a 1590 SAT score, 44 MCAT score, and a 4.0 GPA at MIT, Ben is told that competition for the scholarship is very fierce. The recruiter tells him that he needs to write an essay which will make him stand out; in other words, an essay which will dazzle him.

During an advanced math class, professor Micky Rosa challenges Campbell with the Monty Hall problem, which Campbell solves successfully. Rosa invites Campbell to join his blackjack team led by Rosa, which consists of young men Choi and Fisher, and women Jill and Kianna. The system involves card counting, and the team is split into two groups: The "spotters", who play the minimum bet, keeping track of the count, and sending secret signals; and the "big players", who place large bets whenever the count at a table is favorable. Campbell is reluctant, but eventually joins the team, telling Rosa he is only doing so until he can pay for school. After weeks of intensive training, Ben is given a test at an underground casino, which he passes, and he is assigned as a big player.

Rosa takes the team to Las Vegas where Campbell begins to realize the joys of a new lifestyle. Campbell's performance impresses Rosa, but eventually provokes jealousy in teammate Fisher. One evening, a drunken Fisher sits at Ben's table and starts talking about the "retard" in Rain Man, who won by counting cards. He then incites a melee when he spills a drink on another player at the table. Rosa, disgusted by Fisher's childish behaviour, kicks him off the team and sends him home. All the while, security chief Cole Williams monitors the blackjack team; particularly Campbell. Campbell, meanwhile, falls for Jill, culminating in the pair sleeping together in Vegas.

Back at MIT, Campbell, distracted by the blackjack, botches his part of his project with his friends for the 2.0.9 competition. His friends angrily tell him that they will do the project themselves, with Campbell feeling that the project is not important anymore. On the next trip to Vegas, Campbell is emotionally distracted and continues playing even after he is signaled to walk away. An angry Rosa storms out on the group, promising that Campbell will reimburse him for the $200,000 loss. Campbell and his three remaining teammates bankroll the rest of their money, and agree to go into business for themselves. Williams finds and apprehends Campbell and takes him to a secluded basement and beats him. He lets Campbell go with a dire warning.

Campbell returns to MIT, only to find a letter noting that he has been given an incomplete for one of his classes and therefore won't graduate, and that his winnings have been stolen from his dorm room. Ben suspects that Rosa is behind everything, but cannot prove anything, so he makes Rosa an offer: He and the team will hit Vegas for one big score before the casino installs biometric software as long as Rosa joins the team. He agrees.

Disguised, the team returns to the Planet Hollywood. They rake in over $640,000 before Williams finds them and gives chase. The team members quickly bag their chips and then flee through the casino. During the chase, Campbell and Rosa split up, with Rosa taking the bag of chips. Rosa escapes with the intention of stealing the winnings, but finds his bag is full of chocolate coins and his limo is being driven by the casino manager.

It is revealed that Williams made a deal with Campbell; he would let Campbell come to Vegas for one last night to make a lot of money in exchange for Rosa. Williams recalls a story earlier that he had monitored Rosa's activities years ago, and was successful in preventing Rosa from stealing thousands from the casino. But when Williams was out of town, Rosa managed to take thousands from the casino. However, Williams confronts Campbell on his way out, and demands the bag of chips at gunpoint for his retirement. Campbell turns it over as Williams reassures him everything will work out for his future as a doctor. Later, a tied up Rosa is greeted by Williams who informs him that he'll be turning Rosa over to the IRS for the winnings he's accumulated over the years. The movie closes with Campbell recounting the tale to the Robinson scholarship administrator, who looks back at him, "dazzled".

Cast

This is the third film in which Spacey and Bosworth have starred together. The first was Beyond the Sea, which Spacey directed, and the second was Superman Returns. This is also the second film that Bosworth and director Luketic have made together, the first being Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!.

Controversy

Although the main characters upon which the film 21 is based were Asian, studio executives determined that "most of the film's actors would be white, with perhaps an Asian female."^[1]

Supporters of the decision to cast Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell claim that producers simply sought the best actor for the job, regardless of race. Ultimately, this meant passing over many Asian-American talents in favor of London-born Jim Sturgess, who required a dialect coach to speak with an American accent.^[2]

Nick Rogers of The Enterprise wrote "The real-life students mostly were Asian-Americans, but 21 whitewashes its cast and disappointingly lumps its only major Asian actors (Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira) into one-note designations as the team's kleptomaniac and a slot-playing "loser."^[3]

One of the group's members explained the controversy on The Tech, MIT's newspaper. ^[4]

Jeff Ma, who was the real-life inspiration for the character Ben Campbell, was accused of being a "race traitor" on several blogs. In response, Ma said, "I'm not sure they understand how little control I had in the movie-making process; I didn't get to cast it."^[6] Ma said that the controversy was "overblown" and that the important aspect is that a talented actor would portray him.^[7]

The movie also came out after the Canadian movie the Last Casino, simply drawing from the film's relative success in Canada

Filming

Principal filming of the Las Vegas scenes took place at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino in Las Vegas. Scenes in the MIT bar were actually filmed at People's Republik. MIT would not allow filming on campus. Filming also took place at Harvard Medical School,^[8] Chinatown, and the Christian Science Center in Boston, Massachusetts. MIT school and dorm interiors, the gymnasium, and the alumni reception were all shot at Boston University.^[9]

Critical reception

21 received mostly negative reviews from critics. As of 9 September 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 35% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 145 reviews.^[11] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.^[12] User scores, however, were more positive, with imdb.com scoring it a 6.8 out of 10 based on 38,793 votes as of 26 November 2008.

Box office performance

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $24,105,943 in 2,648 theaters in the United States and Canada, averaging $9,103 per venue and ranking #1 at the box office.^[13] The film was also the #1 film in its second weekend of release, losing just 36% of its audience, grossing $15,337,418, expanding to 2,653 theaters, and averaging $5,781 per venue. The film dropped to #3 in its third weekend, losing only 32% of its audience, grossing $10,470,173, expanding to 2,736 theaters, and averaging $3,827 per venue. It fell to #6 in its fourth weekend, losing 47% of its audience, grossing $5,520,362 expanding to 2,903 theaters and averaging $1,902 per venue.

As of 21 September 2008, it has grossed a total of $157,802,470 worldwide — $81,159,365 in the United States and Canada and $76,643,105 in other territories.^[14]

Soundtrack

Tracklisting

Other tracks

21 (2008 film)

Contents

Plot

Cast

Controversy

Filming

Critical reception

Box office performance

Soundtrack

Tracklisting

Other tracks

See also

Notes

External links

Home

Box Office (USA)

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