21 ★★★

Ben Campbell

21 is about the journey of a poor, genius MIT student, Ben Campbell, who aspires to go to Harvard. His only problem is the college tuition. Although his SAT scores and 4.0 GPA are impressive, it's not enough to get him the Robinson Scholarship which would pay for all of his schooling expenses. Though he is eligible the recruiter tells him that he needs to have something special, some life experience, that sets him apart from everyone else that wants the scholarship. 

MIT Blackjck Team

This experience practically falls into his lap when his college professor, Micky Rosa (played by Kevin Spacey) invites him to enjoy his "club" of students who spend every weekend in Las Vegas gambling, and making a lot of money. Ben agrees to join but only until he makes enough money to pay for Harvard.

Even after he has made the money for tuition, Ben continues to gamble. However he starts getting full of himself and greedy and breaks the rules of the deal. After losing thousands of dollars Micky kicks him out of the club as well as takes all of the money that Ben had been saving for college.

Ben being confronted by Cole

What the club is doing, counting cards, isn't exactly legal and they end up with the security of the casinos after them. Ben makes a deal with the chief of the security Cole Williams, who has had it out for Micky Rosa for a long time, in order to get himself out of the mess and get everything he lost back.

The movie ends well with the last scene is of Ben telling the recruiter about his experience. The recruiter is scene to be astonished and the audience can surmise that Ben got the scholarship. 

Kevin Spacey did well to play the part of the sly can conniving professor Mickey Rosa. he is also known for his parts as Hopper in The Bug's Life, Lex Luthor in Superman Returns, and Dave Harken in Horrible Bosses.

Kevin Spacey

The plot line itself is interesting but they could have done more to make the movie better. For one thing, they hardly develop the other characters. You know little about even the main character, Jill, any of the other club members, or Micky Rosa. You're given a few glimpses here and there but nothing really substantial. 

There's a little bit of romance between Jill and Ben but overall, not much romance. The only action occurs when Cole Williams is beating people up so not much action either. The movie does have some incredible scenes of the highlights of Las Vegas and does well to capture the energy of it all.

It was overall enjoyable to watch but isn't a must see and it definitely could have been better.