With the release of Ocean's 11, people started looking forward to being scammed and confused until the curtain call. And that's what all good heist flicks are about: having some fun. They're about leading the audience behind you like lost puppies pursuing a trail of Milk-Bones.
And being that I'm an audience member first and a reviewer second, I love to be one of those doe-eyed puppies. I eat it up.
So where does that leave 21?
Starring Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) as Ben Campbell, an MIT undergrad, 21 tells the story of a mild-mannered math whiz who is struggling to find a financial root to Harvard Medical. He is approached by his teacher, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), who offers to teach Ben how to count cards at Vegas with his team. Ben slowly develops a double life as he and the team, which includes love interest Kate Bosworth (Superman Returns) as Jill, trip back and forth between Boston and Vegas in pursuit of riches and a good ol' time.
Predictably, things go really well, and then they don't, and then they do, cue climax. Thankfully, Laurence Fishburne (The Matrix) lends his talent as a casino agent with an ax to grind against not only Micky and co., but a world of advanced security technology that sees no need for a smart bruiser with the heart of a badass.
As mentioned, there isn't a big break in the formula here between this and other heist flicks. You know that Micky isn't exactly trustworthy, that Ben can't carry on a life as two people and not suffer consequences. Our lies catch up with us and we pay double time.
But the only formula that matters to me is the one that says x-amount of fun minus y-amount of not-fun yields total movie enjoyment.
And 21 is pretty decent. It's certainly above average in that there are some surprises you don't see coming -- the half of Ben's life that happens in Boston isn't just forgotten or underdeveloped; the casting director picked Laurence "Morpheus" Fishburne to beat the ever-loving crap out of people.
There's fun to be had, but don't expect Ocean's-caliber cinematography, acting or narrative. One of the film's problems is that Micky's complex rule, set for card counting at Vegas, is pretty incomprehensible if you don't pay strict attention to the one 30-second tutorial during which they explain it. This makes the actual "heist" part of the heist movie a lot less fun.
Also, there isn't a terribly strong connection forged between the audience and the rest of Micky's team members -- they're all just throw-away archetypes and secondary characters who move things along and pay very little active role in the central storyline.
I can tell you this much: if you see it, you'll probably have fun, but more could have been done here than following the formula that Snatch, The Italian Job, Inside Man and the Ocean's series laid out. If you need a heist fix, watch Ocean's 11 again. I've seen it 10 times and have never gotten tired of it, and maybe someday, somebody will recapture that lost magic.
