(andPOP) - Quite simply, 21 is a better movie than you'd expect.
We've all seen the set-up before: A university (MIT) student (Ben Campbell, played by Across the Universe's Jim Sturgess) has big dreams (admission into Harvard Medical), but lacks the financial means ($300,000 tuition) to pay for them. So to preserve our society's
delusional democratic belief that we live in a meritocracy, he's given a chance to earn the money - in this case by counting cards, which, as his math professor (Kevin Spacey) repeatedly tells him, is NOT illegal - ethically questionable, yes, but so are casinos.
The film begins with Ben being caught by a card-counting guard, Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne), so you know where this is going.
Oh, and the girl of his dreams (Jill Taylor, played by Kate Bosworth) also happens to be on the team. His mom is single. He has a pair of best friends (Josh Gad and Sam Golzari) and a science project he quickly abandons. And of course this is all based on a true story. Of course!
It's funny how easily Hollywood shoehorns real life into crassly manipulative patterns. For instance in real life Jeff Ma, the inspiration for Ben, was Asian, as was Mike Aponte (who inspired the requisite moody character, Fisher, played by Jacob Pitts), while the film's two Asians (Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira) are paper-thin caricatures who exist more as plot devices than anything (Ma himself has a cameo as a blackjack dealer).
Also, in real life Ma's family was wealthy enough to pay for his tuition. So no pleading with an official to give him a scholarship, no scrimping to save $300,000 for medical school, no lying to his mother when she tried to give him a quarter of the money he needed, no genuine consequences (other than less money) if he lost.
Mickey Rosa, Spacey's character, is a composite of two men: Johnny Chang and J.P. Massar, neither of whom threatened Ma with the academic equivalent of breaking his legs if he broke the rules.
And yet, 21 plays into its conventions well. The film is undeniably entertaining; the card counting sequences are well done and create an atmosphere of suspense, and while there's one too many -
Ben: That's it, I'm out of this!
Mickey: You can earn more money.
Ben: Fine, I'm back in!
(paraphrased obviously) - the characters are about as believable as they need to be. While I don't respect 21's decision to turn three real-life Asians into white people (there's a Facebook group calling to boycott the film), there are worse movies to see at the multiplex.
