Jump to content

21 (2008 film): Difference between revisions

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Browse history interactively
← Previous editNext edit →
Content deleted Content added
VisualWikitext
Undid revision 486014028 by 173.23.198.181 (talk) Changed '2009' back to 2008
Jagged 85 (talk | contribs)
87,237 edits
Line 69: Line 69:
===Casting controversy===
===Casting controversy===
{{Anchor|Controversy}}
{{Anchor|Controversy}}
Controversy arose over the decision to make the majority of the characters white, even though the main players in the book ''[[Bringing Down the House (book)|Bringing Down the House]]'', upon which the film ''21'' is based, were mainly Asian-Americans.<ref>http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/21mitblackjack.php</ref>
Controversy arose over the decision to make the majority of the characters [[White American|white]], even though the main players in the book ''[[Bringing Down the House (book)|Bringing Down the House]]'', upon which the film ''21'' is based, were mainly [[Asian American|Asian-Americans]].<ref>http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/21mitblackjack.php</ref>


[[Jane Willis]], on whom the character "Jill Taylor" is based, said in an interview that it was obvious early on that the studio wasn’t interested in staying true to [[Ben Mezrich]]’s book. Although race and gender were key to the dynamic of the MIT group, and Ma recruited her to "give the team, which was mostly Asian and male, a little diversity," the studios originally wanted her character left out. They wanted an all white male cast with one Asian girl as a love interest<ref>http://www.asianweek.com/2008/04/11/asian-celebrities-jeff-ma-linkin-park-supermodel-spitting-mad-naomi-campbell/</ref> and in another interview, this was also confirmed by Mezrich.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tech.mit.edu/V125/N43/43vegas.html |title=MIT Alumnus and 'Busting Vegas' Author Describe Experience of Beating the House |accessdate=2008-03-29 |author=Kevin Der |date=2005-09-30 |work=[[The Tech (newspaper)|The Tech]]}}</ref> Nick Rogers of ''[[The Enterprise (Brockton)|The Enterprise]]'' wrote "The real-life students mostly were Asian-Americans, but ''21'' whitewashes its cast and disappointingly lumps its only Asian-American actors (Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira) into one-note designations as the team's [[kleptomaniac]] and a slot-playing "loser."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.enterprisenews.com/entertainment/x1565506635 |title=When the stakes are high, '21' folds | accessdate=2008-03-29 | author = Nick Rogers |date=2008-03-26 | work = [[The Enterprise (Brockton)|The Enterprise]] |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080401011250/http://www.enterprisenews.com/entertainment/x1565506635 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2008-04-01}}</ref>
[[Jane Willis]], on whom the character "Jill Taylor" is based, said in an interview that it was obvious early on that the studio wasn’t interested in staying true to [[Ben Mezrich]]’s book. Although race and gender were key to the dynamic of the MIT group, and Ma recruited her to "give the team, which was mostly Asian and male, a little diversity," the studios originally wanted her character left out. They wanted an all white male cast with one Asian girl as a love interest<ref>http://www.asianweek.com/2008/04/11/asian-celebrities-jeff-ma-linkin-park-supermodel-spitting-mad-naomi-campbell/</ref> and in another interview, this was also confirmed by Mezrich.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://tech.mit.edu/V125/N43/43vegas.html |title=MIT Alumnus and 'Busting Vegas' Author Describe Experience of Beating the House |accessdate=2008-03-29 |author=Kevin Der |date=2005-09-30 |work=[[The Tech (newspaper)|The Tech]]}}</ref> Nick Rogers of ''[[The Enterprise (Brockton)|The Enterprise]]'' wrote "The real-life students mostly were Asian-Americans, but ''21'' whitewashes its cast and disappointingly lumps its only Asian-American actors (Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira) into one-note designations as the team's [[kleptomaniac]] and a slot-playing "loser."<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.enterprisenews.com/entertainment/x1565506635 |title=When the stakes are high, '21' folds | accessdate=2008-03-29 | author = Nick Rogers |date=2008-03-26 | work = [[The Enterprise (Brockton)|The Enterprise]] |archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20080401011250/http://www.enterprisenews.com/entertainment/x1565506635 <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2008-04-01}}</ref>

Revision as of 02:05, 19 April 2012

21
Promotional poster
Directed byRobert Luketic
Screenplay byPeter Steinfeld
Allan Loeb
Chris Kalyvas
Produced byKevin Spacey
Brett Ratner
Dana Brunetti
Michael DeLuca
StarringJim Sturgess
Kevin Spacey
Kate Bosworth
Laurence Fishburne
Aaron Yoo
CinematographyRussell Carpenter
Edited byElliot Graham
Music byDavid Sardy
Production
companies
Distributed byColumbia Pictures
Release date
  • March 28, 2008 (2008-03-28)
Running time
123 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million
Box office$157,927,340

21 is a 2008 American drama and heist film directed by Robert Luketic and stars Jim Sturgess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth, Liza Lapira, Jacob Pitts, and Aaron Yoo. The film is inspired by the true story of the MIT Blackjack Team as told in Bringing Down the House, the best-selling book by Ben Mezrich. Despite its largely mixed reviews and controversy over the film's casting choices, 21 was a box office success, and was the number one film in the United States and Canada during its first and second weekends of release.

Plot

Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) senior math major Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is accepted into Harvard Medical School but cannot afford the $300,000 fee. Despite a 44 MCAT score and top grades, Ben faces a fierce competition for the prestigious Robinson Scholarship that would pay entirely for the medical school. The director tells him that the scholarship would go to the student who would "dazzle" him.

At MIT, professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) challenges Campbell with the Monty Hall problem, which he solves successfully. After looking at Campbell's score on his latest non-linear equations paper, on which he got 97%, Rosa invites Campbell to join his blackjack team, which consists of fellow students Choi, Fisher, Jill, and Kianna. Despite being told by Rosa that he had already gotten into the Harvard Medical School, Campbell refuses to join the team on the premise he had been promoted at his job. Next day, Jill visits Campbell at his job and attempts to coax him into joining the team. The system involves card counting and the team is split into two groups. "Spotters" play the minimum bet and keep track of the count. They send secret signals to the "big players", who place large bets whenever the count at a table is favorable. Campbell reluctantly joins the team, telling Rosa he is only doing so until he can pay for medical school.

Rosa takes the team to Las Vegas over many weekends; Campbell comes to enjoy his luxurious lifestyle as a "big player" there. His performance impresses Jill - who develops a mutual attraction with him — and Rosa. However, Fisher becomes jealous of Campbell's blackjack success. Rosa kicks a drunken Fisher off the team after he insults Campbell and incites a melee, requiring the team to scramble to cash in their stock of chips before the casino swaps out (a common practice after a fight). Meanwhile, security chief Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne) monitors the blackjack team, particularly Campbell.

Campbell, distracted by blackjack, does not complete his part of a project for an engineering competition, estranging him from his pre-blackjack friends. During the next trip to Vegas, an emotionally distracted Campbell continues playing even after he is signaled to walk away, losing $200,000. An angry Rosa leaves the team and demands that Campbell repay him for the loss. Campbell and his three remaining teammates agree to go into business for themselves; Williams, however, apprehends Campbell, beats him up, then lets him go after a dire warning.

Campbell learns that he has been given an incomplete for Rosa's class and therefore will not graduate, and that his winnings have been stolen from his dorm room. He suspects that Rosa is behind the events but has no evidence. Campbell reconciles with his friends and Jill, and approaches Rosa with an offer: he and the team will hit Vegas for one more attempt before the casinos install biometric software that will quickly identify card counters, as long as Rosa, once a very successful "big player", also plays.

Disguised, the team returns to Planet Hollywood and wins $640,000 before fleeing with their chips from Williams and his men. Campbell and Rosa split up, with Rosa taking the bag of chips. Rosa escapes into a livery cab with the intention of stealing the winnings, but finds his bag is full of chocolate coins and that the casino manager is driving Rosa's cab.

Williams had made a deal with Campbell after beating him up; he would let Campbell come to Vegas for one night to make a lot of money in exchange for Rosa, who years earlier cost Williams a pit boss job by taking his casino for a seven-figure sum counting cards. After capturing Rosa, Williams confronts Campbell and demands at gunpoint the bag of chips for his retirement; after giving up the money, Campbell rejoins his friends and pre-blackjack friends, who have, in fact, been counting all night themselves. The movie closes with Campbell recounting the entire tale to a "dazzled" Harvard director.

Cast

Production

The filming of 21 began in March 2007. Principal filming of the Las Vegas scenes took place at the Planet Hollywood Casino, the Red Rock Casino, and the Hard Rock Casino in Las Vegas. Filming also took place at Harvard Medical School, Chinatown, People's Republik in Cambridge, and the Christian Science Center in Boston, Massachusetts. As MIT did not allow filming on campus, the MIT school and dorm interiors, the gymnasium, and the alumni reception were all shot at Boston University.

Reception

Critical response

21 received poor reviews from critics. Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 35% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 160 reviews.[1] Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 48 out of 100, based on 29 reviews.[2]

Box office

In its opening weekend, the film grossed $24,105,943 in 2,648 theaters in the United States and Canada, averaging $9,103 per venue and ranking first at the box office.[3] The film was also the number one film in its second weekend of release, losing 36% of its audience, grossing $15,337,418, expanding to 2,653 theaters, and averaging $5,781 per venue. The film dropped to third place in its third weekend, losing 32% of its audience, grossing $10,470,173, expanding to 2,736 theaters, and averaging $3,827 per venue. By the fourth weekend it fell to sixth place, losing 47% of its audience, grossing $5,520,362 expanding to 2,903 theaters, and averaging $1,902 per venue.

By the end of its theatrical run, the film grossed a total of $157,802,470 worldwide — $81,159,365 in the United States and Canada and $76,643,105 in other territories, against a budget estimated at $35 million.[4]

Casting controversy

Controversy arose over the decision to make the majority of the characters white, even though the main players in the book Bringing Down the House, upon which the film 21 is based, were mainly Asian-Americans.[5]

Jane Willis, on whom the character "Jill Taylor" is based, said in an interview that it was obvious early on that the studio wasn’t interested in staying true to Ben Mezrich’s book. Although race and gender were key to the dynamic of the MIT group, and Ma recruited her to "give the team, which was mostly Asian and male, a little diversity," the studios originally wanted her character left out. They wanted an all white male cast with one Asian girl as a love interest[6] and in another interview, this was also confirmed by Mezrich.[7] Nick Rogers of The Enterprise wrote "The real-life students mostly were Asian-Americans, but 21 whitewashes its cast and disappointingly lumps its only Asian-American actors (Aaron Yoo and Liza Lapira) into one-note designations as the team's kleptomaniac and a slot-playing "loser."[8]

Supporters[who?] of the decision to cast Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell claim that producers simply sought the best actor for the job, regardless of race. Ultimately, this meant passing over many Asian-American talents in favor of London-born Jim Sturgess, who required a dialect coach to speak with an American accent.[9]

Jeff Ma, who was the real-life inspiration for the character Ben Campbell and served as a consultant on the film, was accused of being a "race traitor" on several blogs for not insisting that his character be Asian-American. In response, Ma said, "I'm not sure they understand how little control I had in the movie-making process; I didn't get to cast it."[10] Ma said that the controversy was "overblown" and that the important aspect is that a talented actor would portray him.[11] Ma, who is Chinese American, told USA Today, "I would have been a lot more insulted if they had chosen someone who was Japanese or Korean, just to have an Asian playing me."[12]

The Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) reported on their web site: "After the ‘white-washing’ issue was raised on Entertainment Weekly’s web site, [21] producer Dana Brunetti wrote: "Believe me, I would have LOVED to cast Asians in the lead roles, but the truth is, we didn’t have access to any bankable Asian-American actors that we wanted."[13]

Home media

21 was released on DVD and Blu-ray in Region 1 on July 22, 2008.[14]

Reaction from casinos

In pre-production, the producers and the book's original writers predicted that the Vegas casinos would be unhelpful, as a film that told viewers the basics of card counting might hurt their bottom line. A featurette included with the DVD completely and accurately describes the "Hi-Lo" system used by the MIT Blackjack Club and by Rosa's team in the film.

In fact, the writers were surprised when told by the producers that MGM Studios would finance the film, though all "MGM" casinos (including one used by the real MIT Blackjack Team) are owned by MGM Mirage and are no longer related to MGM Studios. In reality, as another DVD featurette reveals, the casinos (including MGM Mirage) saw the film as an attention-getter; people who saw it would be encouraged to go to Vegas and play, attempting to count cards, when in reality the film withheld critical details (such as the conversion from the "base count" to a "true count"), and in any case, although the counting system is simple, it is more difficult to successfully make money at counting cards than the film portrays.

Soundtrack

Untitled
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[15]

The soundtrack was released at the same time as the film.[16]

  1. The Rolling Stones—"You Can't Always Get What You Want" (Remixed by Soulwax) (6:07)
  2. MGMT—"Time to Pretend" (Super Clean Version) (4:20)
  3. LCD Soundsystem—"Big Ideas" (5:41)
  4. D. Sardy featuring Liela Moss—"Giant" (3:42)
  5. Amon Tobin—"Always" (3:38)
  6. Peter Bjorn and John—"Young Folks" (4:37)
  7. Junkie XL featuring Electrocute—"Mad Pursuit" (4:16)
  8. Get Shakes—"Sister Self Doubt" (4:22)
  9. The Aliens—"I Am The Unknown" (5:27)
  10. Rihanna—"Shut Up And Drive" (3:34)
  11. Knivez Out—"Alright" (3:31)
  12. Domino—"Tropical Moonlight" (3:28)
  13. Unkle—"Hold My Hand" (4:58)
  14. Mark Ronson featuring Kasabian—"L.S.F. (Lost Souls Forever)" (3:32)
  15. Broadcast—"Tender Buttons" (2:51)
  16. Peter Bjorn and John—"Young Folks" (4:37)
Other tracks
  • Although it is not included in the soundtrack, Moby's "Slippin' Away" (Axwell Vocal Remix) plays in the scene when Ben is passing through airport security.
  • The song "Everybody Get Dangerous" by Weezer was also featured in the film, but not included on the soundtrack since it was not yet released. It would later be released on Weezer's new record, The Red Album. It is played on a distant radio when the team is in a poker club.
  • The songs "I Want You to Want Me" by Cheap Trick and "Music is Happiness" by The Octopus Project were also featured in the film but not on the soundtrack album.
  • The song "Magnificent" by Estelle (feat. Kardinal Offishall) was also featured in the film but not on the soundtrack album. It's played approximately 58 minutes in, after the Weezer song, in the scene where Ben buys Jill a beer. It's subtle, and has a reggae beat.
  • In the promotional trailers, "Break on Through (To the Other Side)" by The Doors was used.
  • During the restaurant scene where the team explains to Ben how they work, "Home" by Great Northern can be heard playing in the background.
  • The song "Again with the Subtitles" by Texas artist Yppah is another uncredited song in the film.
  • The track played as the team makes off at the end of the film is "Rito a Los Angeles" by Giuseppe De Luca, which features part of the main riff of "In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida". This track is also used in Ocean's Twelve, the first sequel to the caper film Ocean's Eleven, about actually robbing casinos in Vegas.
  • My Mathematical Mind by Spoon was featured in the trailers.

References

  1. ^ "21 Movie Reviews, Pictures - Rotten Tomatoes". Rotten Tomatoes. Archived from the original on 22 November 2009. Retrieved 2009-11-14. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  2. ^ "21 (2008): Reviews". Metacritic. Archived from the original on 2 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  3. ^ "21 (2008) - Weekend Box Office Results". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-04-06.
  4. ^ "21 (2008)". Box Office Mojo. Retrieved 2008-04-28.
  5. ^ http://www.chasingthefrog.com/reelfaces/21mitblackjack.php
  6. ^ http://www.asianweek.com/2008/04/11/asian-celebrities-jeff-ma-linkin-park-supermodel-spitting-mad-naomi-campbell/
  7. ^ Kevin Der (2005-09-30). "MIT Alumnus and 'Busting Vegas' Author Describe Experience of Beating the House". The Tech. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  8. ^ Nick Rogers (2008-03-26). "When the stakes are high, '21' folds". The Enterprise. Archived from the original on 2008-04-01. Retrieved 2008-03-29.
  9. ^ Michael Janusonis (2008-03-28). "Movies: 21 star Jim Sturgess got a crash course in card counting". The Providence Journal. Archived from the original on 11 April 2008. Retrieved 2008-04-02. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  10. ^ Justin Berton (2008-03-27). "Hollywood deals Jeff Ma a good hand with '21'". San Francisco Chronicle. Archived from the original on 29 March 2008. Retrieved 2008-03-29. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
  11. ^ http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N12/blackjack.html
  12. ^ Bowles, Scott (2008-03-26). "New film '21' counts on the real deal for inspiration". USA Today. Retrieved 2010-04-23.
  13. ^ http://www.manaa.org/twentyonedvd.html
  14. ^ Amazon.com: 21 (Single-Disc Edition): Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Jack Gilpin, Jack McGee, Kevin Spacey, Tom McGowan, Frank Patton, Spencer Garrett, Helen Carey, Jeff Dashnaw...
  15. ^ Brown, Marisa. 21 Soundtrack review allmusic.com. Retrieved on 2011-06-24.
  16. ^ Marisa Brown. "allmusic ((( 21 > Overview )))". Allmusic. Retrieved 2008-04-02.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=21_(2008_film)&oldid=488102658"