21

"Winner, winner, chicken dinner!"

3 Stars

I was, in the beginning, really excited to see the story of the MIT Blackjack Team.
I wanted a "true story", but I got a movie "based on actual events". In other words, a good story for a Hollywood movie.

Based on the book Bringing Down the House, 21 is the story of a group of MIT math students who used their smarts to count cards and take the house(es) of Vegas.
And a-one two three four, you know the rest.
Big wins, no worries, someone gets lost in the game, and then it's not fun anymore, and then you're caught.

One thing that I was really disappointed with was that there was no real "good times" montage. Hello? These are college kids in Vegas, winning whale like money, and they show just a clip or two of them in a limo, and shopping at Louis Vuitton. I've made a better Vegas "good times" montages, and I'm no where near high roller status.

The ending was very Hollywood.
I was hoping to see at least a short court scene, but it was taken in a direction that had me saying "What?".
I remembered when this whole MIT thing went down in the 90's. It was fascinating! I think the Vegas Gaming Commission should have fronted some money for the movie development to show the true story, and to prove that if you count cards, you get caught.
I bet those MIT students aren't having any "good times" montages now. But according to this movie, everyone's fine.
I expected more.