21 stars Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth, Jim Sturgiss, and Laurence Fishburne. The movie is based on the true story of a group of MIT students who, with the help of one of their professors, trained themselves to count cards and win big in Vegas.

Ben Campbell (Sturgiss) is brilliant but broke. A star student at MIT, he's worried about how he (and his single mom) will pay for medical school in a year. He's working a job at a men's clothing store, but it doesn't begin to put a dent in what his tuition will cost.

One of his teachers, Mickey Rosa (Spacey), notices Ben's uncanny ability with figures. Mickey invites Ben to join his select group of Vegas card-counters, and then the story starts to cook. Jill Taylor (Bosworth) is also part of the group, providing a love interest for our young protagonist, and pretty soon, the students and their wayward professor are living high on the hog in Sin City.

But complications ensue, as they always do. A run-in with Cole Williams (Fishburne), a member of the Vegas security set, lines up the characters for a tricky ending.

I liked this movie. It moved along quickly, the characters were relatable and likable, and Kevin Spacey makes everything that much better. Plus, the story is a good one. What broke college student wouldn't want to use their natural talents to beat the house? Shoot, if I could balance my checkbook without making a subtraction error, I might try it myself!

It's a remarkable tale, and a fun movie to watch. Beware - it's only loosely based on the true story of the MIT card-counters. If you're expecting a documentary, look elsewhere.

Entertaining, if predictable, telling of the MIT kids that took millions from Vegas. Having read the book, I can tell how much the story was Hollywood-ized, and none of it was for the better. Still, not a bad movie, and the fact that it was based on non-fiction is cool.

And that's saying a lot, considering I don't watch much in the way of movies anymore. All about a professor and his group of students who go to Vegas to count cards... a way of beating the casino system and coming out ahead. So long as you don't get caught.

The plot and pacing were good and the characters were both believable and interesting. I really enjoyed 21.

I pulled this one out of the local Red Box the other night, mostly because of the inordinate amount of time that I have spent in casinos during my life. I kind of lost my taste for gambling when I entered a large casino on a local Rez and walked around the tables, looking for, at least, a pleasant place to sit. The perception of "pigs at the trough" soured my desire to sit down. Besides, unless youre sitting at a whale table, chances are that 99% of the players can't tell the difference between gambling and praying and, too often, they prayed at my expense. So, I snatched this video...

Based on the true story of some Harvard students and their professor who scammed Vegas out of a ton by counting as team, it seemed to drag on, endlessly, during the training period of a new addition to the team. If, in fact, this team of counters was so successful, the film totally missed it. First, if this was documented as it actually happened, they would have all have hade their arms and legs busted within the first hour of their visit. They all traveled together, stayed in the same rooms in the hotels, strutted through the casino together like the Mod Squad, then sat down at neighboring tables as if no one would suspect them of being a team. Oy! And the hand signals! Why didn't they just hold up cardboard signs? The signals were so obvious and repetitive, that between the eyes-in-the-sky and facial recognition software, there'd be no chance of survival. Lucidrous. 

The only real gambling done here was on the film, itself. This was director Robert Luketics sixth movie and aside from utterly boring, dull and walk-through parts by Kevin Spacey and Laurence Fishburne, the entire cast averaged around 20 TV and big screen appearances. I hope it's some kind of a launch pad for some of them, because it signals the unfortunate demise of Spacey's long and lucrative run. It's not that I don't like him, or I won't give him other look-sees, but there's always one guy getting it all and Phillip Seymour Hoffman is the current race horse. Spacey needs to show more reach or he's finished.

This movie has to get up on a step stool to reach a 3. Good thing it was only a buck to rent, or I might have taken insurance. The filmmakers did...with a penny ante cast...