Bet ween the Frames

All about real film criticism
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Thursday , June 5 , 2008

21 - Ultimately Empty and Unsatisfying

Posted by betweentheframes , Reader : 256 , 02:54:46

Sometimes, when we seek for something so hard, we lose sight of who we are and what our initial impetus is, and seemingly seize upon what we're desperate for, only to lose it all and more. The story of Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) in 21 is one of searching for something, discovering a means that he thought would get it, losing it all, and gaining the world that he wanted from the very beginning. Contributing to the flick both as the name-equivalent of Blackjack and the age of the young antihero, 21, directed by Robert Luketic, is really a story of coming of age, by experiencing real life. Based on Ben Mezrich's 2002 non-fiction bestseller of gambling scheme "Bringing Down the House", the true story of the M.I.T. students who took Las Vegas casinos for millions, 21 has been reshaped to fit a simple movie entertainment-only template. A cash-strapped nerdish wicked-smart Bostonian M.I.T. undergrad Ben Campbell works with his best friends on a project for a robotics competition. He really needs a $300,000 scholarship to get into Harvard medical school, but he's only one of 72 talented prospects. Ben, cast as the story's Faustian figure, gets an invite from his congenial mathematics professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) to join several other students as members of a secretive campus organization, with a scheme to hit Vegas on weekends and make a fortune, but he resists. His budding love interest Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth) attempts to woo him, but he still resists. He really needs the money, so he joins up. He'll walk away when he saves enough for his full college tuition, he insists. He learns the blackjack system in a montage sequence or two and passes the test. There's no law against card-counting, he reassures them. What he fails to add is that if you're caught doing it, they might drag you to a basement and smack your face into ground if you win too much. The film really picks up steams when the characters move to Vegas on weekend getaways under assumed names and the guys win. It works like a charm, as Ben hauls in $16,700 on his first trip. Soon, he has collected over the promised amount wadded up and stashed away above a ceiling tile in his dorm room. The remainder of the story will bury you with inadequate coming-of-age tropes. In an inevitable eventuality, the high-roller lifestyle sinks its talons into him. Ben transforms from an introverted nerd into a party animal turned monster. He rejects his longtime science-geek friends and trades his denim for designer suits. When he begins a hubris-fueled betting streak that alienates his gambling teammates, he draws the attention of a tough security chief Cole Wilson (Laurence Fishburne). Egos are shaken, friendships tested and a couple of double crosses never let us forget to use everything within reach to maximize that winning hand. Exhilarating at times, but ultimately empty and unsatisfying, the film apparently suffers from serious gaps of logic. What starts out as an intelligent exercise surrenders to a pretentious, formulaic nonsense, with a climatic chase scene far from exciting because there’s nothing new there. It rips off so many great casino films while systematically ruining a fantastic true story by dumping it down into a story that was made for children. There’s nothing worth caring about flavorless Ben or his lugubrious romance with Jill. The supporting characters are all cardboard cutouts and Spacey chews up half the state of Nevada in his role as the racketeer/academician. The obligatory twist ending looks like it has been telegraphed from miles away. Shot with deeply saturated and high contrast colors, this schematic three-act rise-fall-and-redemption saga, as predicted, packs some teachable moments. The thrill of gambling is not really about winning, but it’s about chasing the high one gets from winning. It is also about the gilded embodiment of the American Dream. By juxtaposing Ben's split personality, it reflects his partition in the two cities in which he spends his time. Boston is cold, snow-bound and austere, with the sort of dimly lit, blue-collar pubs, whereas Las Vegas is warm, licentious and aglow, with casinos brimming with noise and life. While Spacey owns the spotlight when present on screen, it’s Ben Campbell that will linger in your mind after the credits have rolled. Ben's life experience is about comprehending addiction, because he tells that he is playing to earn the $300,000 for Harvard and then he's out. He, nevertheless, learns to love the life they live on the weekends, and it sucks him in. It's the age-old story of sin, how something good at first or something done wrong drags you in until you don't notice that you've lost yourself. Though 21 is a tight and fun fantasy, unfolding with much flash, Ben's own lessons unfortunately don't occur until we've seen him go down the long, deceitful slope. And along the way, the easily corrupted hero has already been insinuated by Spacey's all-too-experienced Mephistopheles/teacher/mastermind.

Sometimes, when we seek for something so hard, we lose sight of who we are and what our initial impetus is, and seemingly seize upon what we're desperate for, only to lose it all and more. The story of Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) in 21 is one of searching for something, discovering a means that he thought would get it, losing it all, and gaining the world that he wanted from the very beginning. Contributing to the flick both as the name-equivalent of Blackjack and the age of the young antihero, 21, directed by Robert Luketic, is really a story of coming of age, by experiencing real life.

Based on Ben Mezrich's 2002 non-fiction bestseller of gambling scheme "Bringing Down the House", the true story of the M.I.T. students who took Las Vegas casinos for millions, 21 has been reshaped to fit a simple movie entertainment-only template. A cash-strapped nerdish wicked-smart Bostonian M.I.T. undergrad Ben Campbell works with his best friends on a project for a robotics competition. He really needs a $300,000 scholarship to get into Harvard medical school, but he's only one of 72 talented prospects. Ben, cast as the story's Faustian figure, gets an invite from his congenial mathematics professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) to join several other students as members of a secretive campus organization, with a scheme to hit Vegas on weekends and make a fortune, but he resists. His budding love interest Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth) attempts to woo him, but he still resists. He really needs the money, so he joins up. He'll walk away when he saves enough for his full college tuition, he insists. He learns the blackjack system in a montage sequence or two and passes the test. There's no law against card-counting, he reassures them. What he fails to add is that if you're caught doing it, they might drag you to a basement and smack your face into ground if you win too much. The film really picks up steams when the characters move to Vegas on weekend getaways under assumed names and the guys win. It works like a charm, as Ben hauls in $16,700 on his first trip. Soon, he has collected over the promised amount wadded up and stashed away above a ceiling tile in his dorm room.

The remainder of the story will bury you with inadequate coming-of-age tropes. In an inevitable eventuality, the high-roller lifestyle sinks its talons into him. Ben transforms from an introverted nerd into a party animal turned monster. He rejects his longtime science-geek friends and trades his denim for designer suits. When he begins a hubris-fueled betting streak that alienates his gambling teammates, he draws the attention of a tough security chief Cole Wilson (Laurence Fishburne). Egos are shaken, friendships tested and a couple of double crosses never let us forget to use everything within reach to maximize that winning hand.

Exhilarating at times, but ultimately empty and unsatisfying, the film apparently suffers from serious gaps of logic. What starts out as an intelligent exercise surrenders to a pretentious, formulaic nonsense, with a climatic chase scene far from exciting because there’s nothing new there. It rips off so many great casino films while systematically ruining a fantastic true story by dumping it down into a story that was made for children. There’s nothing worth caring about flavorless Ben or his lugubrious romance with Jill. The supporting characters are all cardboard cutouts and Spacey chews up half the state of Nevada in his role as the racketeer/academician. The obligatory twist ending looks like it has been telegraphed from miles away.

Shot with deeply saturated and high contrast colors, this schematic three-act rise-fall-and-redemption saga, as predicted, packs some teachable moments. The thrill of gambling is not really about winning, but it’s about chasing the high one gets from winning. It is also about the gilded embodiment of the American Dream.

By juxtaposing Ben's split personality, it reflects his partition in the two cities in which he spends his time. Boston is cold, snow-bound and austere, with the sort of dimly lit, blue-collar pubs, whereas Las Vegas is warm, licentious and aglow, with casinos brimming with noise and life.

While Spacey owns the spotlight when present on screen, it’s Ben Campbell that will linger in your mind after the credits have rolled. Ben's life experience is about comprehending addiction, because he tells that he is playing to earn the $300,000 for Harvard and then he's out. He, nevertheless, learns to love the life they live on the weekends, and it sucks him in. It's the age-old story of sin, how something good at first or something done wrong drags you in until you don't notice that you've lost yourself.

Though 21 is a tight and fun fantasy, unfolding with much flash, Ben's own lessons unfortunately don't occur until we've seen him go down the long, deceitful slope. And along the way, the easily corrupted hero has already been insinuated by Spacey's all-too-experienced Mephistopheles/teacher/mastermind.

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