A vanilla movie. For starters, the MIT campus looks just like Boston University (since the campus scenes were shot there) and many of the Asian kids from the original MIT crew have been replaced by normal white kids. So much for realism. But the movie just throws too much Vegas "glitz" at the viewer as the movie teeters down this predictable path as if it's saying, "Did you think that scene was predictable? Well, here is a casino with a beautiful blonde woman. And look: money--lots of it. Oooh" Someone should have aimed higher here. It will be a decent DVD rental some day.… Expand

Really sad that they felt they had to change the story to make it marketable. And yes, most of the original MIT blackjack team on which these characters were based was indeed Asian American, save for like two people. Leave it to Hollywood to turn that ratio inside-out. It's not playing the race card to say that. It's just fact.

The biggest travesty is people will see this and think they know the story of the MIT blackjack team. Everything after the training was completely fabricated. Imagine the movie without the beating, Lawrence Fishburne character, and surprise ending because none of it ever happened. I think people are responding so well to the movie because they are assuming it is a true story. Had I not read the book I probably would feel the same however I did read the book and remember thinking how amazed I was they could ruin such an amazing story. The casinos fought back but in LEGAL ways. No one got beat up or had their money stolen. Jeffrey Ma made and kept over a million dollars but he gets audited routinely thanks to the casinos. Amazing true story, too bad the producers decided to be more inspired by Oceans 11 than the book Bringing Down The House. Read the book.… Expand

21 is not exactly racist. The re-working of the details to appeal to a broader audience was NOT racist. These were simlpy business decisios. All else being equal, 21 is probably a decent movie. However, the presuppositions upon which the casting decisions were made were indeed RACIST: These business decisions were based upon the presupposition that box-office success of a film is achieved when you have white leads with Asian supporting characters, rather than Asian leads with white supporting characters. Have you thought for a minute about why that is, and what that means in a broader, social sense? Have you thought about what that could mean for your children? Is that something you're willing to accept? Pause here, and think about that for a minute...… Expand

Terrible, terrible film. I saw this at a screening in the UK before it came out, and what a waste of time. If you are an intelligent person who likes to watch films for interesting characters, stimulating logical plots and unforeseen twists then DON'T go see this film. It was basically oceans eleven remade for easy to please teenagers who wouldn't know a good film if they sat through an all night alfred hitchcock festival. Morpheus and Keyzer Soze felt completely out place amongst all the bland young actors, and didn't really seem to give a shit about anything except their check for the movie. And the bland young actors? Well they were bland, especially the lead boy, who was a wimpy little brown noser. Also, the real card counters, who this movie is based on were actually of Asian descent, and the ONLY Asian guy in this film had about 2 lines. It is obvious that the people behind the film didn't think it would sell if they hired Asian actors, and that should tell all you need to know about this film. A manufactured piece of crap, and a fine example of racism in Hollywood. All the people on this forum who gave this movie above 5 are obviously taste-impaired/13 years old. That is all.… Expand

I saw 21 when a friend told me it was awesome and to go see it. I'm questioning whether or not to stay friends with him. This movie was predictable, shallow, glitzy and everything else people hate about these stupid popcorn movies. It took serious willpower to sit through this factually inaccurate, and ethnically stereotypical movie. I'm offended that people say this movie is for 13 year old, because even I, who am thirteen, don't deserve a movie as bad as this.… Expand

This was the first time I've ever walked out of a movie. I'm all for easy-going fun films, but this bludgeoned you with every stupid idea the writers and director had. When I wasn't annoyed at how heavy-handed and obvious they were with things like signaling other members of the team (something that ought to be subtle), I was annoyed with how heavy-handed they were with the rest of the meager plot.… Expand

I walked out after an hour. The beginning was ok, but then the story evolved into some rubbish, it was very clear what was going to happen. And Kevin Spacey, who plays "mr. I-know-everything" really irritated me all the movie.

Utter crap. Supposedly intelligent characters are ruined by the army of hacks that wrote or directed this. Imagine watching a documentary about Einstein, no picture the director making him struggle to open a milk carton. That is how simple the movie makers made this movie.

This movie certainly had some potential, and I didn't think it was a complete waste of time. But really, there is little substance here, and I cannot shake the anti-gender / race thing going on in terms of being the BIG player. The 'romance' in the film is lukewarm at best. Also, I wish I knew more about counting before going in, since you feel like an outsider desperately trying to figure out how they are doing it during the film.… Expand

A bit of a yawnfest . uninteresting, unengaging characters ... dysfunctional editing - arty blackjack table shots that just went on FOREVER ... but some nice cinematography also .

Terrible acting, terrible script, plot hole after plot hole after plot hole: not a good formula for a movie, is it? Kevin Spacey should be ashamed of himself for this one. Can you say "career killer". The scene where he is being chased while in his urban cowboy costume is beyond silly. And the producers want us to think these kids are smart? They do NOTHING correctly to keep from getting caught. I am a mathematics instructor and I was particularly offended by Spacey's math "lectures". His topics meandered aimlessly with no connections to each other. And the math he was discussing is covered in high school...not in an upper level MIT course. And for supposedly being an MIT professor, he certainly seemed pretty clueless in avoiding being caught, too. Pathetic film.… Expand

A poor movie. The camera work was...questionable at best. They tried to make something boring exciting, and it ended up giving me a headache. (I loved the Bourne movies camera work because the style suited that genre) The acting was bland, they should have gotten someone better to play Campbell. I think Jake Gyllenhaal would have been great as Ben. Spacey's performance was one of his worst, perhaps because his character was boring. He just felt censored, as if he was holding back. Kate did fine. Overall a movie I'm disappointed I paid money to see. Watch only if you have nothing better to do.… Expand

If you think the plot of "21" sounds as if it was slyly brushed out of screenplay purgatory, just wait until you see how bland the movie actually plays out. For being a group of renegade college students, the characters really aren't very interesting at all and the actors constantly allow Kevin Spacey to steal the scenes, even when he's in the next room getting coffee. Props to Jim Sturgess for giving some especially bad narrating, too. If anything, though, the movie's effective editing does do a good job of capturing the excitement and tension of counting cards as a team.… Expand

Someone should remake this film. The book was amazing, but the movie didn't seem real, too Hollywood. Was the end slow walk shot with all the characters really necessary. It also seemed to ignore the whole part that he was still a student while this was going on.