"21" is a loose adaptation of the best seller, "Bringing Down the House", in which a team of brilliant MIT students form a blackjack team to count cards and ultimately, win money. Jim Sturgess (last seen in "Across the Universe") plays Ben, an overly smart kid, with dreams of entering Harvard’s Medical School, but despite his 4.0 GPA and other great academic accomplishments, tuition is nearly too high for him to offered, especially without scholarships. Ben is slowly coaxed into his Math (Kevin Spacey) professor’s blackjack team. Once inside he must learn the code words and promise never to play progressively or actually gamble. They will go unnoticed and win big without catching the "eye in the sky’s" attention.

The film is slick and fun, at an escapism level of entertainment. That’s fine; most critics’ under-estimate that level of entertainment and can’t understand why a film succeeds at the box office. People like to be entertained, and while I recognize different people have different ideas of entertaining movies, "21" by all means is a glossy Hollywood flick that covers that broad scope of what qualifies as fun entertainment.

The cast is fine if not better than you’d expect. Of course Spacey delivers his seedy, likable villain persona here, Larry Fishburne is another dependable actor and his character’s arc is one of the films more interesting subplots, but the film hinges on Jim Sturgess. He’s likable and adequate. At times, he does sport a smirk that you sometimes just want to smack him, telling him not to mess up because people could be watching, and that feeling comes from the fun of the film and possibly his likableness, but he reminds me of Jake Gyllenhaal’s bizarre alter ego. If Gyllenhaal constantly has that sad, sullen face, Sturgess constantly has that smug look like he just saw his first pair of breasts.

The film does loose itself when it starts to pile on the montages. There are numerous montages of the team gambling and counting cards, parties, sex, more parties, and more gambling. The premise is interesting on how they developed a system of counting cards during blackjack. You only get to see this system used barely twice; they have code words to tell each other what the blackjack count is when a member comes up to the table and a unique way of knowing when they’ll win. I was rather interested in this setup only to have my interest wane with the constant montages. I understand that you cannot constantly show us, but a few more times would’ve enhanced the tension (because Ben’s in it only for his tuition savings) and would’ve showcased their cerebral skills (again because they are all math nerds). The film doesn’t try to dissect this culture or its damning qualities, like "Casino" or "The Cooler". It’s fluff and rather likable fluff, but it could’ve been really good.

Fishburne’s subplot that I liked and mentioned so earlier puts the film and its counting of cards system into historical context. He plays a Loss Prevention manager at the casino, but is facing a new technology that can read gambler’s faces to tell whether they are cheating or not, which will put him into retirement earlier. I dug how his character persevered while facing this new technology, even if he had to bounce from casino to casino to continue. He represents that old school Vegas attitude and is some welcomed charm next to the film more hip, slick characters.

"21" has another flaw which may or may not hinder your enjoyment. The moral aspect of the film doesn’t allow for a morality tale of the damning nature of gambling to fully sink in. Just right when you think Lady Luck has betrayed our main characters, they grab that Hollywood Ending out of there pockets and succeed and gloat in their winnings. Since the film is more than likely targeting that high school demography to help its box office intake, the studio did a disservice to the young by actually showcasing the riches. Anyone knows or if they have a family member, that winning in the casino is slim and more than not, can become a horrible addiction that can cost lives, families, and debt, than MIT degrees and a way to save for tuition.

The other moral aspect comes from the knowledge of the facts that inspired "21". The blackjack team was nearly all male and Asian, with one Caucasian female. Now it’s common knowledge that despite those facts, while making a movie, producers always will look for the best actors for the roles. But to have two Asian characters and to have them one-dimensional caricatures is quite despicable. Hollywood loves to use stereotypes because they are easily identified with, but sometimes it’s a shame when they revert facts like that to help sell the film’s marketability.

Those expecting anything deep on blackjack or the nature of this game will be disappointed but at its core, "21" is a serviceable, entertaining flick to pass those remaining winter days that linger on till spring.