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Just about everyone else on the team is a thin caricature. Choi is nothing more than a snarky guy with a habit of stealing everything from the hotel that isn't nailed down. Fisher is Ben's rival, becoming jealous and reckless only because the script calls for it, not because he has an actual falling out with the protagonist. Kianna is, well, the other girl on the team besides Jill. And Jill is Ben's inconsistent love interest, starting out seductive and fully buying into the Vegas lifestyle, but then later decrying it, apparently to become the moral center for Ben to play off of when he descends into temptation.

Kate Bosworth as Jill Taylor

Such inconsistency keeps this drama from becoming believable. The team gets into trouble not because they aren't smart enough to beat the system, but because they're too dumb to avoid drawing attention. Kindly Professor Rosa drinks and fraternizes with the kids in Vegas, but suddenly turns malicious after just one screw-up from Ben.

For that matter, why is Ben too ordinary to beat the competition for a Harvard scholarship, yet special enough among all the students at MIT for the blackjack team to aggressively pursue him alone? Is it because he's smart enough to take classes in mathematical probabilities while majoring in pre-med and designing robots? And if he's that smart, then why is he storing hundreds of thousands of dollars in his dorm room crawlspace? Why, to serve the script, of course, so he can lose it all later. Seriously Ben, it's called a bank—look into it.

21 is certainly watchable, and there's a twist or two that that I didn't see coming, probably because by that point I had written the movie off as too dumb to attempt anything of the sort. Yet in spite of the story's shortcomings, the underlying crash course in card counting is intriguing. The dialogue is runs the gamut from clunky to clever. And though Luketic's direction and visuals are often over the top, it's anything but boring.

This film is as uneven as the average player's luck in blackjack (aside from card counting, of course). There are some fun moments, but when it's all said and done, 21 should have followed Sin City's cardinal rule: What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Talk About It

1. Is gambling a sin? How does it differ from other risk-based ventures like investing in the stock market or purchasing insurance? Is using money to make money wrong? Or is it the motive behind making the money?
2. Opinions on gambling aside, do you believe card counting should be legal or illegal? What about the technique used in the film? Is it simply a talent, or is it cheating casinos?
3. Where does Ben go wrong—from the very start, or is there a point where he goes too far with his playing in Vegas? How is his experience illustrative of the seductive nature of temptation?
4. Do the best things in life come easy or do they come with great effort? Wasn't Ben simply using his natural gifts to get ahead? How could he have better applied those gifts to stand out and "dazzle" the admissions board at Harvard? Or is Harvard simply "not in the cards" for him since he doesn't have enough money?

The Family Corner

21 is rated PG-13 for some violence and sexual content, including partial nudity. The violence refers to a couple scenes where card counters are roughed up and encouraged to leave town. There is one short sex scene with a lot of skin, but it's more sensual than graphic. There are several meetings in a strip club where the women are scantily clad, and there are some references to masturbation and sex. Also, most all the main characters drink alcohol throughout the movie. The film is more PG-13 than R, and contains surprisingly little profanity.

Photos © Copyright Columbia Pictures

© Russ Breimeier subject to licensing agreement with Christianity Today International. All rights reserved. Click for reprint information.

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