Release: 11 April 2008 (UK wide) Rating: PG 13 (caution advised) Production: Columbia Pictures (123 minutes) Director: Robert Luketic

Starring: Jim Sturgess (Ben Campbell) Kate Bosworth (Jill Taylor) Laurence Fishburne (Cole Williams) Kevin Spacey (Micky Rosa) Aaron Yoo (Choi) Liza Lapira (Kianna) Jacob Pitts (Fisher)

‘Everyone can be bought’
What would you do if you harboured dreams of Harvard Medical School, but didn’t have the heart to take $300,000 from your widowed mother to fulfil your destiny? Well, if you’re director Robert Luketic, you combine a true story of casino blackjack, with a sob story cut from the quintessential American Dream and the glamour of Las Vegas - and you produce this Spring’s big blockbuster – ‘21’ The Movie.

The inspiration for ‘21’ comes from Ben Mezrich's best-selling non-fiction novel "Bringing Down the House" – the true story of a group of MIT students who used cutting-edge blackjack card counting techniques to literally swipe millions from the casinos of Las Vegas, before the big bosses knew what had hit them!

Luketic’s ‘21’ delivers a loose adaptation of the true story of the MIT casino swoop of the late 90’s – allowing a stereotypically glossy sob story to romanticise and justify the concept of taking millions from casinos using highly sophisticated (albeit legal) gambling strategies.

21’s star is the talented Jim Sturgess, who plays the role of the unassuming MIT student Ben Campbell - a mathematical genius with some serious financial headaches (how ironic!). If Campbell can’t find $300,000 (and he simply refuses to entertain the idea of a loan from his mother) – his dreams of Harvard Medical School are out with the trash.

Fortunately, Campbell’s mathematics tutor (Micky Rosa played by Kevin Spacey) just happens to be a notorious blackjack player, banned from every casino in Las Vegas! It isn’t long before the desperate Sturgess is lured into Rosa’s secret clique of student blackjack players(featuring Aaron Yoo, Kate Bosworth, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts & Laurence Fishburne), all with ridiculously high IQ’s and a completely coincidental mix of race, gender and sexuality. Does Ben go against his morals or give in to the lure of Las Vegas – well of course he gives in, ‘but only until he has the $300,000’!

With the casinos eager to welcome the slick ‘no hopers’, and completely unaware that their ‘lucky first night’ is nothing further from the truth – the MIT team are soon taking millions from the casinos using sophisticated gadgets, goofy hand signals and hardcore card counting techniques (the only way to legally beat the casino).

‘21’ quickly spirals into a fast paced drama amidst the seductive allure of Sin City. Will the pursuit of wealth ruin Ben’s Harvard dreams, will Rosa be exposed as an unscrupulous, greedy cheat – and are the crack students really any better? As the tension builds – the casino inevitably discovers the scam and considers the ultimate punishment that threatens to blow down their house of cards!

Lutetic’s ‘21’ isn’t classic movie making – but it delivers a glitzy style, simple story line and loosely brings to life a genuine example of a gaming scam that literally threatened to bring down the casinos of Las Vegas. Perhaps there are some deeper moral question hidden among the hedonistic pleasures of Lutetic’s Vegas pole dancers, scantily clad women and Sturgess’ lust for the thrill seeking Jill – does everything has a price?

Whether you just enjoy the ride through Vegas or look at ‘21’ at a more cynical level – remember the basic facts behind the movie are real……so enjoy the smug casinos getting a taste of their own medicine.