21

21 is a perversion of the rags to riches story, the exasperation of not having wealth and the troubles with having it all. Based on a non fiction book, the movie focuses on college students leading double lives in Boston and Las Vegas, organized counting cards in games of black jack, earning hundreds of thousands of dollars and led by a former card-counter turned professor. The beginning of the movie and the majority of the middle and systematic, pulled together and kept light by strings of narration by the main character, for without it the story would unwind completely and get unbearably heavy. The ending, plausibly the better/best part of the movie really helps to assure its average status. It’s a game-changer of sorts that adds a little more suspense and complexity to a mostly plain storyline. Enjoyable for the most part but nothing I’d be excited to see again, 6.5/10.