Synopsis
Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.
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Cast
- Jim SturgessBen Campbell
- Kevin SpaceyMicky Rosa
- Kate BosworthJill Taylor
- Aaron YooChoi
- Liza LapiraKianna
- Jacob PittsFisher
- Laurence FishburneCole Williams
- Jack McGeeTerry
- Josh GadMiles
- Sam GolzariCam
Recommendations
- 75
Rolling Stone
21 drags itself to a climax that puts credulity in splints. So what? In a multiplex of dumb-luck hits, it's a kick to watch Spacey and a gifted young cast use smarts to deal audiences a winning hand. - 75
Entertainment Weekly
The fun of 21 is the way that this sharp, hyperaware star in the making, his face as readable as a mood ring, pours us into an adrenalized cocktail of fear, desire, and mental buzz. - 70
The Hollywood Reporter
Escapist moviegoers happy to live out a flashy fantasy get a brief comeuppance and still walk away from the table with a little something in their pockets. - 70
Variety
Picture shrewdly shuffles together attractive young leads, cagey screen vets and a fantasy-fulfillment scenario in a slickly polished package that should appeal to anyone who's ever dreamed of beating the odds. - 60
Salon
Spacey's engaging for a while in one of his patented double-edged, sharky roles. - 50
ReelViews
21 doesn't spin a good enough yarn. - 50
Chicago Tribune
21 isn’t pretentious, exactly, but it’s damn close, and in trying to whip up a melodramatic morality tale the film becomes an increasingly flabby slog. - 40
Austin Chronicle
Spacey, whose Trigger Street Productions is one of the film's producers, digs into his role as the story's snarky mastermind and lure, yet it's all the kind of stuff we've seen him deliver in so many movies before.
