Rating: 66
Robert Luketic’s “21” isn’t merely a triumph of style over substance — it’s style breaking the bank and kicking substance out of the casino. But this fact-based drama about Massachusetts Institute of Technology students counting cards in Las Vegas is as seductive as the high-style life it portrays, and even the most mainstream-averse film snob will cave into its joys as “21” deals out its winning hand.
Math wiz Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) squirrels away every dime he earns at a suit shop when he’s not keeping his nose in the textbooks and building the perfect robot with his geeky friends (Josh Gad, Sam Golzari). He isn’t sure if he can cover the bills for Harvard Medical School, until Professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) recruits him into MIT’s after-hours card-counting team. Ben and his teammates (a solid ensemble led by Kate Bosworth and Aaron Yoo) fly to Vegas on weekends and clean house with their winning combination of math skill and hand signals, but they soon find themselves scrutinized by a pit boss (Laurence Fishburne) who knows Micky’s routine all too well.
All the expected plot twists end up on the table, including the inevitable conflict with Micky, the romance that takes Ben’s eye off the cards and the fall from grace. But Luketic knows what he’s doing, and he executes “21” with such glamour and panache, those shopworn conventions become easy to forgive. Spacey is solid, even when playing a character he could do with his brain tied behind his back, but this is Sturgess’ moment, and the young Brit carries the film with a canny mix of charisma and everyman charm. Throw in a killer, of-the-moment sound track supervised by Dave Sardy and featuring Mark Ronson and MGMT, and “21” pulls off a winning streak.
— George Lang