21 is a thrilling and intriguing movie all about the potential successes and pitfalls of card counting. It focuses on a group of students who are taught the tricks of card counting by their professor; they put their knowledge into practice and use their unorthodox gaming skills to win hundreds of thousands of dollars playing blackjack games at Las Vegas casinos. However, it isn’t all fun and games (and big wins!), as the students discover the negative consequences of exploiting casino games.
Movie Summary
The movie’s main character is MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) mathematics student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess). His ambition is to go to Harvard Medical School and he manages to gain acceptance, however, he can’t afford the huge tuition fees of $300,000.
Ben applies for a scholarship that will cover the fees, though the competition he faces is stiff. Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), Ben’s mathematics professor, gets him to solve a challenging brain teaser. After being impressed by Ben’s latest test results, he invites his student to join his blackjack team, which four other students are members of. What they do is they use a particular strategy known as ‘card counting’ to give themselves an advantage when playing blackjack and boost their chances of winning.
The team has regular trips to Las Vegas where they end up making huge amounts of money. Ben comes to enjoy the high roller lifestyle and wants more of it. However, this comes at a price as he starts neglecting his commitments back home, such as an engineering competition he’d been looking forward to. After missing the competition, the next time he plays, he’s clearly distracted and goes on to lose $200,000. An angered Micky quits the team and tips off a security guard about the team’s card counting – the guard beats Ben up and warns him against returning to the casino.
Things go from bad to worse for Ben. Money is stolen from his dormitory room and he finds out he’s ineligible for graduation. It turns out that Vegas casinos are soon to install biometric software to help keep better track of players. Ben and the team decide to have one last Vegas trip before this happens. They convince Micky to come along for what will be their last card counting session.
The strategy pays off and the team rake in over half a million dollars, though they’re spotted by the same guard that beat Ben up. The guard captures Micky and it’s revealed that Ben and the guard made a secret deal so that Micky could get his hands on the guard, who has a long-standing grudge against him. In exchange for Micky, the guard allows Ben and the team to have one last night of playing without getting caught. However, he then turns on Ben and steals his winnings from him at gunpoint. Despite this, the team still end up making a considerable sum of money at the blackjack tables.
Is The Movie Based On Facts?
21 is very loosely inspired by real-life events. The MIT Blackjack Team was a group of numerous students and alumni from MIT and other prestigious American colleges. From 1979 through to 2000, this group used card counting to ‘beat the casinos’ and win at blackjack games. The 2003 book, Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas for Millions focuses on an MIT graduate who joins the card counters.
Though initially classed as non-fiction, it later transpired that substantial parts of the book were in fact made up or heavily exaggerated. The movie 21 draws inspiration from this book. Just like the book, it’s about the card-counting group and how they went on to win at blackjack games, but it’s mostly fictional.
Does Card Counting Actually Work?
Card counting is a rather controversial strategy that’s mainly used in blackjack games. The way it works is as follows: as a game’s played, you keep a running tally of the cards that come up, especially the high-ranking ones; as the game progresses, you’ll know what cards have already come up and should have a better idea of what cards are going to come up.
Card counting is supposed to improve your chances of winning at blackjack and walking away with money in your pocket. However, it’s worth pointing out that no strategy can guarantee you a win and card counting is no different. Online versions of blackjack don’t let you count cards because they shuffle the deck more often than real-world games. If you’re after some top online casinos to sign up, check out the ones here: https://www.betpal.com/casino/. You’re sure to find plenty of worthwhile casinos.
Why You Shouldn’t Try Card Counting
Movies like 21 make card counting seem considerably easier and more accessible than what it actually is; they also show the strategy being very lucrative. In order to effectively use the strategy, you have to have an incredibly detailed, in-depth knowledge of how blackjack games; this involves knowing each and every rule inside-out. You also need to be able to keep perfect track of the cards that are drawn and constantly work out what your next best move is. Using a strategy such as card counting involves a lot of preparation and can be mentally challenging. The strategy isn’t technically illegal, however many land-based casinos will throw you out if they suspect you’re using it, because of the fact that it gives you more of an advantage.
Was 21 A Success?
21 was quite profitable, generating a total of $157.9 million at the box office against a production budget of $35 million. Despite being a success both commercially and critically, the movie did cause some controversy thanks to its casting. Most of the characters in the book, on which the movie is based, are Asian-Americans. However, the movie adaptation has a predominantly white-American cast.
There are a few Asian actors in the movie, including Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira, however, the roles they have are more supporting roles. Since the movie has its Asian-American main characters played by white actors, it’s been accused of whitewashing, something that many others have faced accusations of whitewashing.
