Anyone planning to see 21 this weekend?

[Hartley]

Movie about the MIT group that took Vegas for millions by card counting.

Should be interesting. Apparently Andy Bloch to this day isn't allowed at a Vegas blackjack table.

[JCNovak]

yeah, I plan on seeing it. The book was great

[parlayin]

no. seems predictable and canned. i'd expect some corny lines

[drunkguy]

Originally Posted by parlayin

no. seems predictable and canned. i'd expect some corny lines

yea I agree


probably not gonna be much better than "2 for the money"

[parlayin]

'bringing down the house' was a quick read...1-2 days. but these movies tend to glorify all the typical aspects and leave out the interesting parts that aren't sensationalized to appeal to the masses. if you gamble everyday like a lot of the forum posters here, seeing a movie like '2 for the money' is a joke. then you hear friends refer to the movie as if its a reliable source of info. a friend of a friend actually started subscribing to Lang after that movie was released...utterly ridiculous. i do understand that we are all gamblers at heart and find it entertaining to watch scenes of young kids being comped and treated like high rollers and rolling around in more money than they know what to do with, so i guess i can't knock that. i guess i'm just the type that prefers independent movies that actually develop characters and attack issues over a lot of the mainstream trash that gets produced these days

[Bostongambler]

Big tub of popcorn and the right girl and it could be a good movie.

[Bobby C]

Remember all the idiots who showed up in the poker room after "Rounders" came out? Or to the pool room when "Color of Money" came out?

I can't wait for the onslaught of young, solo-o card counters, using their fingers and chips to count.

[Mr Memory]

Originally Posted by parlayin

'bringing down the house' was a quick read...1-2 days. but these movies tend to glorify all the typical aspects and leave out the interesting parts that aren't sensationalized to appeal to the masses. if you gamble everyday like a lot of the forum posters here, seeing a movie like '2 for the money' is a joke. then you hear friends refer to the movie as if its a reliable source of info. a friend of a friend actually started subscribing to Lang after that movie was released...utterly ridiculous. i do understand that we are all gamblers at heart and find it entertaining to watch scenes of young kids being comped and treated like high rollers and rolling around in more money than they know what to do with, so i guess i can't knock that. i guess i'm just the type that prefers independent movies that actually develop characters and attack issues over a lot of the mainstream trash that gets produced these days

People eager to throw money at a guy who made picks tossing a coin while prone on a men's room floor.

LOL.

[stevo]

He gets on ESPN also. They drooled over him last week for calling last two supoerbowls. Can't recall the pair who were interviewing him. No mention of his record as a whole etc.

I said to myself " no wonder this guy sucks in hits on his site" fukin espn is giving him free time.

[St Paddy]

I think I may read the book instead of watching this one. It sounds almsot the exact same as The Last Casino. I watched this way back when it came out and found it pretty good from what I can remember. Here is some more info on it.

The Last Casino (2004) (TV)

[Uncle B]

I've got the extended trailer, and all the pertinant info on this flick posted in the MW Ent forum, for anyone interested in seeing how it looks...

I put a recent review of it in the thread last night too, for anyone who gives a shit what critics are saying about it..



'21' - Movie about the M.I.T students who took Vegas for millions..(extended trailer and info)

[count zero]

Here's the NYT review. She thinks it sucks.

With Assist From Greed, Money Makes the Man
By MANOHLA DARGIS
Published: March 28, 2008

Greed is good and comes without a hint of conscience in “21,” a feature-length bore about some smarty-pants who take Vegas for a ride. Loosely based on the nonfiction book “Bringing Down the House” by Ben Mezrich, and adapted for the screen by Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb, this bankrupt enterprise asks you to care about a whiny M.I.T. moppet, Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess, serviceable), who because he can’t afford Harvard Medical School (boo hoo), starts counting cards to rake in some serious cash.

The conduit to Ben’s journey of counterfeit self-discovery is a racially, ethnically, sexually balanced gang of other greedy bright things (the most appealing being Aaron Yoo, wasted as the kooky, sexless Asian guy), run by an equally avaricious math professor, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey on autopilot). Using a system of mnemonic devices, goofy hand signals and a talent for numbers, the team has devised a way to beat the bank. (In Las Vegas, Laurence Fishburne and his knuckles will have something to say about that.) Because Ben doesn’t want to use his poor widowed mother’s savings to go to Harvard, he decides to ditch his qualms if not his sense (because he really has none) and signs on.

And so it’s off to Vegas they go, where they count the cards, take the money and run. Amid the din and glare of various casinos, the director Robert Luketic, whose credits include “Legally Blonde,” engages in other dodgy business: he cribs from Wong Kar-wai’s “Chungking Express” period (Ben sits motionless as the world races by); borrows from the David Fincher of “Fight Club” (camera tricks for kicks); lifts from Martin Scorsese’s “Casino” (throw the money in the air like you just don’t care); and pays homage to universal whoredom by restaging the “Pretty Woman” shopping montage. He also tosses in some gleaming rides, a couple of PG-13 pole dancers and a Rolling Stones remix that both Dad and the kids can enjoy.

Ben ogles the chintzy glamour and the chesty blondes spilling out of their dresses, and the movie does exactly the same. He particularly likes it when his skinny school crush, Jill, clambers aboard and offers him a lap job, for which I hope the young actress Kate Bosworth was well compensated. Like everything else in “21,” Jill can be bought for the right price, as of course can Ben and, by extension, us. The filmmakers try to soften this idea mostly by furnishing Ben with a sob story. They turn his desire to attend Harvard into something tantamount to an inalienable right, one that’s impervious to ethical standards or personal morals, which means that “21” is either a very cynical or a very smart take on the power elite.

[stevo]

Pass and catch it on DVD

[leoj2002]

Originally Posted by St Paddy

I think I may read the book instead of watching this one. It sounds almsot the exact same as The Last Casino. I watched this way back when it came out and found it pretty good from what I can remember. Here is some more info on it.

The Last Casino (2004) (TV)

I thought so too

[BubbRubb]

I'm partial to Boiler Room. Stock trading and some 21 action.

[clevfan]

Melodramatic, but with a seal of approval

Jeff Haney isn’t surprised ‘21’ overdramatizes the MIT card-counting tale, but finds original guys kind of liked it

By Jeff Haney
LAS VEGAS SUN
Fri, Mar 28, 2008

Fans of “Mr. Show with Bob and David,” the brilliant sketch-comedy program, will recall an episode that skewered the way Hollywood “adopts” true stories only to pervert them beyond recognition.

In the episode, a movie titled “Why Me? The Bob Lamonta Story” is honored for its portrayal of Bob Lamonta, who was raised by mentally challenged parents and won three Olympic gold medals before dying young.

At the awards ceremony, Lamonta himself shows up, explaining the movie was all true ... except for a few minor embellishments: His parents were not mentally challenged, he never competed in the Olympics, and he’s still alive.

That’s pretty much what I had been expecting from the movie “21,” especially after listening in on gossip and speculation from blackjack insiders for more than a year, since it was announced that Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and Laurence Fishburne would star.

Blackjack purists pointed out Ben Mezrich’s “Bringing Down the House,” the best-selling book that spawned the movie, had already sensationalized the MIT card-counting team’s real-life exploits. Surely the movie would further sensationalize the story. Would any recognizable remnants of authentic events survive?

Given the inauspicious buildup, I expected members of the actual MIT card-counting team to trash “21,” which opens today.

Instead, Dave Irvine and Mike Aponte — who risked, and won, big money in Las Vegas with the MIT team in the 1990s — had generally favorable impressions of “21” after a screening at New York University.

“I thought it was very good,” Irvine said. “I thought it captured the scene pretty well. It did a good job capturing the lifestyle of these kids, who were typical students during the week, and how they had to adjust to becoming Vegas high rollers on the weekend.

“I didn’t know what to expect going in, but I felt pleasantly surprised. Maybe that means I had low expectations going in, I don’t know. I was entertained, that’s for sure.”

Aponte’s reaction was also positive, if less enthusiastic. He was OK with the celluloid version of the team’s adventures, as long as he kept telling himself it’s only a movie, it’s only a movie.

“Well, it was interesting,” Aponte said. “I knew beforehand it was a movie version and that it was only ‘inspired by’ these true stories. I kind of had mixed feelings about it. Overall, I’d say they did an exciting Hollywood version of the story.

“Obviously it’s not going to capture the real, true story. It’s not going to tell you exactly what happened, and I don’t think that’s the intent.”

Irvine and Aponte liked Jim Sturgess, perhaps best-known for warbling Beatles songs in “Across the Universe,” in the role of the main character, Ben Campbell. Sturgess did a nice job showing how tempting the trappings of a high roller’s lifestyle can be, they said.

“But my least favorite part was when they get roughed up,” Aponte said. “That was over the top a little bit.”

Neither Irvine nor Aponte had any role in the production of the film.

The movie’s impact figures to keep Irvine and Aponte busy for a while as they attend speaking engagements and promote their latest venture, an Internet-based card-counting training system called BlackjackVT.

“It’s not just teaching, but giving people the ability to progress and learn new skills one by one,” Aponte said. “That’s the thing with card counting: It’s a pretty straightforward system, but the big key is practicing enough to get good at it. Most people aren’t motivated enough to practice it on their own, but we think BlackjackVT will really keep people engaged.”

That illustrates an inherent weakness in making a movie about counting cards. Mastering the technique requires study and discipline — admirable traits, but boring to watch on the big screen.

Hence the movie’s dramatic flourishes.

The best advice for “21” viewers might come from a Beatles song that didn’t make the cut for the “Across the Universe” soundtrack: Turn off your mind, relax and float downstream. (Especially turn off your mind.) I mean, you can still enjoy “Rounders” even if you know the Russian mob is not actually in the habit of allowing its enemies to settle debts via a poker game, right?

In the gambling-movie oeuvre, “21” may not be as sublime as “California Split” or as gritty as “The Gambler.”

But it’s no “Why Me? The Bob Lamonta Story” either.

“It is not intended to be a documentary,” Irvine said. “It’s an entertaining Hollywood movie.”

[Bostongambler]

Reviews weren't that good.

[Mr Memory]

. . . and no one on earth is surprised by that.

[CompaqDork]

posters here have no excuse for not seeing gambling related movies no matter how awful they are, hell they come out like once every 2 years if we're lucky