Friday, July 11, 2008

21: The Movie

Hmm, I usually don't do a review for an English movie, but what the hell, a good friend of mine recommended this movie and asked me to write a post. So, here we go.

21 is a movie based on Ben Mezrich's 2003 bestseller Bringing Down the House - a tale of how brilliant MIT students supposedly took the Vegas casinos for millions of dollars at blackjack, using devilishly clever card-counting techniques, but somehow lost it all again.



Ben Campbell, a science genius needs about 300 grand USD to fund his education at the Harvard Medical School. He applies for a scholarship and the dean asks him for a challenging story that would help him get the scholarship. Ben doesn't have one and there starts his quest for a great story.

21 is an exciting movie packed with the right elements that would expect in movies that revolve around the life of 21yr olds.

Kevin Spacey (Micky) plays the professor who runs a team of card counting specialists. They fly to Vegas every weekend and literally plunder a casino.

Kate Bosworth is the college babe that everyone wants to hang around with. For 25, she looks sexy cool and pairs up really well with Sturgess who is just 21.

The movie is more about how observant you are whilst the game is in progress and what clues you pick up. So, there are keywords that you need to know and watch out for, signals, gestures and formulas for the cards that are being laid down. Another important part is the effect of emotion over your decision making power. Once you overcome the emotion, stay calm and composed, then you have a mathematical formula that takes you right close to the answer and you don't have to think twice about making that decision.



21 also shows how young and geeky college students yearn to date pretty women in the same college but never manage to get there easily. Very typical. And when the guy almost gets the girl, they try to act smart in front of their friends.

21 also emphasizes a lot on how to control your mind and thoughts as a person, how not to be greedy and not go overboard, loyalty, betrayal, camaraderie, team work, most importantly NEGOTIATION. The last part where Ben asks Micky to play one last game is a classic example of how he manages to turn the tables to his favor.

Overall: awesome movie for a night show. you'll definitely not sleep.

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