spoiler warning
Counting cards. I’d never heard of “counting cards,” hayseed that I am. Not exactly illegal, it’s a mathematical way to beat the house at cards based on probability and a heck of a good memory. The film 21 opened Friday night to a full house if it was like our Monaco tonight (Saturday.) We had assigned seats.
A brilliant 4.o MIT student’s life dream is Harvard Med. He lacks two things: money ($300,000 all in) and “dazzle.” The prof interviewing him for the scholarship is impressed, but alas, he has 76 more with the same glittering resume. “You must dazzle me,” and jump off the page, he tells him. Ben is a plain, geeky boy, very nice. (He turns down his lower-middle class Mom’s offer of $68,000.)
Enter the villain. Kevin Spacey is the math prof, who leads a talented group of students to Vegas on weekend jaunts to make money at 21 – Black Jack. Prof Mickey Rosa invites Ben to join. Ben goes against conscience in favor of MONEY and quickly becomes great at counting cards, achieving the pinnacle of success: to be a HIGH ROLLER IN VEGAS. (Statistically, not many people dream of Harvard Med.)
Toadies and sycophants aplenty court him. He likes it too well, forsaking a beloved project and his best friends. But he’s 21. And stupid to be so smart. He hides hundreds of thousands of dollars above a ceiling tile, breaches one of the professor’s rules, and gets caught by casino security, Lawrence Fishburne, who beats him up and threatens his life if he ever sees him gambling again. Then, the dubiously gifted professor steals Ben’s MONEY, gives him an incomplete, and fires him. His future is toast.
So Ben has learned his lesson, right? The movie is a cautionary tale, a morality play: greed is the root of all evil. Crime doesn’t pay. Honesty is the best . . . not really. The last cut shows Ben and his two best friends (sweet, nerdy MIT boys) and Ben’s co-counting girlfriend winning at the tables. He’s recruited them! No more baggy sweats — Armani suits all around.
But before that a flashback shows Ben making a deal with the casino cops to turn over Rosa through an elaborate set-up in the casino. This is how he saves himself. Not very heroic either. Rosa was the one that turned Ben in, too. Add to that, Fishburne double crosses Ben and takes the set-up MONEY, which was to finally secure Ben’s tuition.
The reward, or rather payoff? Ben now has a resume; he can dazzle, and his new life experiences jump off the page. It was worth it!
Based on a nonfiction book, Bringing Down the House, by Ben Mezrick, the film is entertaining, fast-paced, and well-acted despite mostly poor reviews that I read including from the NYT. But its themes are unsatisfying because the message is mixed. They certainly show the corruptibility of youth, the evils associated with greed, AND that the house can be beaten enabling you to finance your Harvard degree while living the Vegas life! At the very least you’ll build an estimable resume. And your friends need not be left behind. They, too, can be winners. If they’re smart enough.
