The count is ten. Four of hearts (plus one), the count is now eleven. King of spades (minus one), the count is back to ten. Four of diamonds (plus one), count is eleven. Three of clubs (Black Jack!!).

Jim Sturgess plays Ben Campell, an MIT student who is incredibly good with numbers, but is in need of a lot of money. He has been accepted to Harvard Medical School and needs three-hundred thousand dollars to pay for it. The movie starts off with Ben trying to impress the Harvard Dean in order to get a very important scholarship that will pay for everything needed on order to get into Harvard. The dean asks for an amazing story that would jump out at him, so Ben begins to tell his story about counting cards.

While at school, Ben continuously impresses people with his skills in math. Played by Kevin Spacey, Mickey Rosa, Ben’s mathematics teacher, gives Ben the opportunity to make the three-hundred thousand dollars he needs for Harvard. With the help of Jill Taylor, played by Kate Bosworth, he persuades Ben into joining his blackjack team.

However, this isn’t your ordinary blackjack team. Every weekend the group goes to Vegas, not to gamble, but to count cards. Every week more and more money is made until the point where Ben becomes addicting to counting cards. He begins to leave his friends behind along with everyone else he loves.

The more Ben and his friends count the more suspicious casino security becomes. Laurence Fishburne plays Cole Williams, a casino security agent, who becomes determined to take the team down. The higher the money stack rises, the more in danger Ben and his friends are in.

As the movie progresses it becomes more and more interesting. Feelings of greed, jealousy, and sabotage begin to appear. These intense feelings are what made this a really good movie. The longer you watch the movie, the more exciting it becomes. It became one of those movies where I ate a whole bag of popcorn without even knowing it. I was completely absorbed in the suspense and intensity of the film.

21 surprised me, by being a lot better then I thought it was. It’s not the best movie I have ever seen, and it’s probably not in my top 5 or 10 favorite movies. However, it has most of the aspects I look for in a movie, I enjoyed it, and it was worth going to the movie theater to see.