21 : The Movie

21 (also referred to in advertising as “21: The Movie”) is a 2008 drama film from Columbia Pictures. It is directed by Australian director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) and stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, and Laurence Fishburne. The film is inspired by the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team.

Trailer : http://video.zoopers.net/musicvideo.php?vid=6ec238324

The film draws from Bringing Down the House, the best-selling book by Ben Mezrich.

Ben Campbell is an MIT senior who applies for a full scholarship to Harvard Medical School. The Harvard official administering the scholarship tells him that Ben’s application essay must “dazzle” him if he is to win it. In his non-linear equations class, Ben impresses his professor, Mickey Rosa, who invites him an after-hours card counting session, the members of which travel to Las Vegas every weekend and count cards to win money which they split between each other. After some persuasion, Ben joins the team on the circumstance that he will quit when he makes $300,000, the amount he needs for medical school. Life then gets complicated for Ben; every weekend he is in Las Vegas, and ignores and lies to his friends and family. He starts to drift away from his friends and is forced to stop working on a prized ‘209′ robotic project with his friends. After one night of losing a massive amount of money, Mickey and Ben part ways. Ben decides to take over the team and Mickey reports them to casino security. After being caught and beaten by Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) of the casino security team, Ben returns to MIT and asks Mickey to rejoin the team to make back his money. Ben’s plan is to trick Mickey as revenge for stealing his savings from his dorm room, and Mickey is caught by casino security while Ben is let off the hook. Ben pays off casino security with that night’s winnings, returns to MIT and “dazzles” the Harvard dean with his Las Vegas adventures.

~ by Fahmi on April 15, 2008.