What makes 21 so memorable is the fact that it is based on a true story. In the early 90’s, a group of MIT and Harvard students did indeed sweep millions of money from Las Vegas after successfully ‘card counting’. Adapted from a book called Bring Down the House by Ben Mezrich, the film adds pizzazz with some Oceans’ 11-like shots and thuggish villains.
To be honest, I had first been drawn to the film for Jim Sturgess and then the plotline. Although I was greatly disappointed that Sturgess had to relinquish his British accent for his role as Ben, he was still just as impressive as he was in Across the Universe. He manages to transition seamlessly from the honest diligent student to the party-hard Las Vegas gambler. Kevin Spacey plays Professor Rosa, one moment a praising mentor and the next a villainous money-grubbing leech. Kate Bosworth is mere eye candy and a big-shot name attached to the film. Asides from her array of chic outfits, Bosworth really doesn’t add to much to the overall experience. She’s a bit too pretty to be outfitted in clunky college sweatshirts so her role as Jill Taylor, Campbell’s love interest, is a bit unconvincing. Up-and-coming actor, Aaron Yoo actually managed to catch my eye. Playing a character with kleptomaniac tendencies and blurring the lines between pothead and genius, Yoo adds a splash of lightheartedness to 21.
Though the plotline is relatively simple and lacks the nuances of some other more famous gambling/swindling films, 21 makes up for it with its freshness. I felt like the whole card-counting strategy was a bit vague and wished that the film had explored it more. The dynamics of the characters were right on and it was both a thrilling and heartfelt film.
What kind of annoyed me later, though, was when my mom forwarded me an article from Sina.com (basically a Chinese online news site) that revealed the original character Ben Campbell (in Bringing Down the House, Kevin Lewis) was based off of was actually a Chinese-American named Jeff Ma. Apparently he was a Mechanical Engineering major at MIT and the really powerhouse behind the operations. He- unlike Ben Campbell- played for the sheer excitement of the game.
Now, why would an obviously Asian-American man be interpreted as a white middle-class student and then later, played in a film by a British young man? That just makes no sense to me at all. Though some may cry out, ‘Racism!’ what I find interesting is that the filmmaker felt like he needed to make the main character Caucasian so the audience could relate more. Why is this so? Hmmm...something interesting to think about.
