21 ** Rating: PG-13 Length: 123 minutes Director: Robert Luketic (Monster-in-Law; Legally Blonde) Writers: Peter Steinfeld (Be Cool; Analyze That) and Allan Loeb (Things We Lost in the Fire; The Only Living Boy in New York) Starring: Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Jim Sturgess, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, Jack MacGee, Josh Gad, Sam Golzari, Helen Carey, Jack Gilpin, Jeffrey Ma, Spencer Garrett
When my girlfriend told me the real life story of Jeffrey Ma- the MIT student who along with several of his friends figured out a card counting trick that was able to take numerous casinos for a ton of money- I thought it would make one hell of an interesting movie. It probably still would. “21”, unfortunately, is not that movie. As I was informed as the end credits started to roll and I glanced over at Sarah (my girlfriend) and gave her the “what the hell?” look, the real story was not portrayed in this film. Instead, we get a standard genre pic about the good guy who has a gift, is reluctant to use it, uses it, lets it go to his head, loses everything, and then comes back down to earth to put it all back together again. Jeffrey Ma is changed into Ben Campbell (played by the remarkably boring Jim Sturgess) - an MIT student who leads a dull life. He works at a clothing story for $8 an hour, is designing a robot with his nerdy friends, and dreams of getting into Harvard. One of his professors, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey- hamming it up), notices Ben’s big brain in class one day and invites him in on a secret scam he’s operating. He runs a card counting scheme with a group of his students. Rosa used to play himself, but retired after he was nearly caught by a violent security “guard” (Laurence Fishburne). Ben is reluctant to join at first, but is lured in by his crush on member Jill (Kate Bosworth). Of course, he begins to help the team win big, starts to ignore his friends, lets it all go to his head, forgets the… well, everything I stated earlier. What should have been an extremely interesting glimpse into the world of scams in gambling is as dull as Ben’s earlier life. Director Robert Luketic’s past films have included “Legally Blonde” and “Monster-in-Law”. He handles action and suspense very clumsily. There is no tension or build up when it is required and the movie becomes so by the books that the “surprise” ending is hardly a surprise at all. Jeffrey Ma himself appears as a casino dealer. Too bad they didn’t get a chance to tell his real story. Now that would have been one hell of a movie.
This was another music blog, but let's face it- there are enough of those to go around at the moment and the web is becoming a bit too crowded for them (except for the bomb ass ones like "Fight Test", "Fluxblog", etc...). So, I decided to make this a movie review blog where I'll post reviews of the movies I watch. I'll include MP3s from the movie soundtracks to download when I can find them. Keep in mind these are just my OPINIONS, so you could very well love a movie I hate or vice versa- so please, don't bother posting comments on what an idiot I am for not liking a movie you like (or for confusing a slight fact- no need to call someone a dumbass for not knowing a remake was originally Thai and not Japanese. There are some rude people out there) It is pointless and I'd rather you just not come to the site if that's the case. Also, the MP3s posted are to help encourage you to either purchase the soundtrack and/or the individual group or artist's album(s). If you are the owner of any of the songs posted and want them removed- please let me know and it will be done ASAP. Thank you for stopping by!
21
No comments:
Post a Comment