21 Blackjack Movie
The film 21 was released on March 28, 2008. Directed by Robert Luketic, this 2 hour 3 minute movie 
received a 36% Rotten Tomatoes rating but grossed over $80 million at the box office. The drama boasts twelve main cast members and tells the tale of a MIT student-based blackjack card counting team that attends classes during the week and takes a Las Vegas casino by storm during the weekends.
“21″ Blackjack Characters and Storyline
Jim Sturgess plays the main character Ben Campbell who is a recently accepted Harvard Medical student needing to acquire hundreds of thousands of dollars to attend, or to produce a “dazzling” essay for an extremely competitive full-ride scholarship application. Unsure of his ability to produce said essay to win the scholarship, Ben realizes he needs to make a lot of money in a short amount of time. The opportunity to do so presents itself shortly thereafter via his math Professor.
Kevin Spacey is math Professor Mickey Rosa, who invites Ben to join his blackjack team consisting of four other members (Kate Bosworth as Jill Taylor, Aaron Yoo as Choi, Liza Lapira as Kianna and Jacob Pitts as Jimmy Fisher). The team trains extensively to perfect blackjack strategy and a card counting system, with the goal of using their abilities against the Planet Hollywood casino.
After training, the team is divided into two groups based on their strengths: the “spotters” and the “big players”. The former play blackjack and count the cards simultaneously, while placing minimum bets. Once the deck is favorable (meaning it contains a high number of 10-cards), the spotter secretly signals the “big player” who joins the table and begins placing large bets. The result is hundreds of thousands of dollars for the team.
Additional story lines and plots are woven into the film for added interest and drama. Other notable cast members and characters of 21 include Laurence Fishburne as the casino security chief Cole Williams, Jack McGee as security personnel Terry, Josh Gad as Miles Connoly, Sam Golzari as Cam Azazi, Helen Carey as Ellen Campbell and Jack Gilpin as Bob Phillips.
21 scenes were filmed in Las Vegas at the Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino, and Boston University and Harvard Medical Center instead of MIT, as the university would not allow filming on campus.
“21″ Based on Bringing Down the House
Part of the inspiration for the 21 blackjack movie was Ben Mezrich’s book Bringing Down the House which, in turn, was inspired by the renowned Reptiles blackjack team. Sturgess’ character, Ben Campbell, portrays real-life MIT graduate and Reptiles member Jeff Ma, although Ma is an Asian American with an American accent (not British). Ma appears in the film as a casino dealer.
Other popular blackjack-based movies include The Cooler (2003) staring William H. Macy and Alec Baldwin, Croupier (1998) staring Clive Owen, and Rounders (1998) staring Matt Damon and Edward Norton.