Grade: CI am a sucker for anything that involves Vegas, gambling, or college kids. Not just films that involve those aspects. Anything. So when 21 came along, satisfying all three genres, I was getting more excited than hitting a set on the river against bullets. Throw in one of my all-time favorites, Kevin Spacey, into the mix and you've got yourself a winner...right? But like many cheap thrills in Sin City, this one comes away as a disappointment.
What made this film so bad was not just because it was bad, but because it had such a great premise to work with and failed anyway. A bunch of genius college kids who bring down the house in Vegas. You could've went with any angle on this story, but 21 ditches the true account for a below-average thriller that comes off hardly believable. It substitutes thinking man techniques at the casino for silly MTV-style montages stolen from The Real World: Las Vegas. It substitutes built-in suspense for dissatisfying drama. It even substitutes a blackjack team comprised mainly of Asian men for snappy dressed, good-looking men and women stolen from Gossip Girl.
I think the actors even realized how ridiculous the film was becoming. They thought they had signed on to an intriguing storyline, but as it was clear the true story was being botched, Spacey's and Lawrence Fishburne's acting went down the tubes, working on autopilot to save this stinker from up-and-coming overpaid actors (Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth) flopping at roles every chances they get.
Unlike the great Rounders, 21 dumbs down its movies, never fully respecting the story or the audience that expects it. It cheapens everything down in an effort to achieve Hollywood blockbuster success, and for that, it fails to be a good movie or a Hollywood blockbuster success. The film is another example of why "based on true story" movies should be kept under close watch and only made when we have to, and also an example for why remakes are necessary...for at least the bad movies anyway.
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