Ooh, look, it’s flashy games of blackjack and a helicopter view of Las Vegas. Basically, nothing you couldn’t see in any select episode of “C.S.I.” So, what does 21 offer that’s new? The honest answer to that question is nothing. However, I could say that it takes logical decision making from a group of people that are supposed to be smart to a whole new level of stupidity. When you insinuate to an audience that they characters they are watching are “the very brightest young minds in the country” they better not be making amateur hour mistakes. Unfortunately, that is exactly what you get with this messy concoction of flash and bang with zero substance.
To begin with, 21 is based on the true story of a group of MIT students that used card counting to take Las Vegas casinos for millions. The headliner in the book “Bringing Down the House” was an Asian American named Jeff Ma, instantly the Asian is replaced by a stereotypical white boy and his crew of MIT cronies. From what I have been told of the actual story (I have not read the book), there was plenty to create a fantastic film (such as the fact that Ma started dating a Laker girl), but that was thrown out the window and replaced with a story of financial issues and inner-team rivalries and sexcapades.
The film develops an intricate scheme as these bright minds have developed a way to count cards and get away with it. Fortunately for casino security (Laurence Fishburne) they never change their ways and ultimately make themselves obvious. I can only assume it all went down far different in real life, probably something with a bit of complexity behind it, but the story here has been so dumbed down for mass audiences you are almost shocked as it all goes down.
The biggest problem with 21 is that for some reason you actually expect more from this film. So, when it goes down the route of stereotypical love stories and kids in trouble situations you can only sigh with disappointment. Then again, what do you expect from a director known for romantic comedies (Monster-in-Law, Win a Date with Tad Hamilton and Legally Blonde)? All the blame can’t be placed on Luketic’s shoulders, the script adaptation by Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb is so generic and by-the-numbers you could only write it if you set out to pen an obvious film in which the audience was in on the secret from the very beginning.
21 is amateur hour at its finest. It runs about 30 minutes too long and it drops and picks up storylines as if we actually care once they have been abandoned. The film isn’t necessarily sloppy, but it does give the distinct feeling that Luketic didn’t want to leave anything on the cutting room floor when he actually had it in his power to remove a lot of the crap Steinfeld and Loeb wrote in there.
