Gambling “21″ Movie is Aces at Box Office

The behind the scenes word on the film “21” was that filmmakers wanted the movie to be more of a cautionary tale than just to glamorize the world of gambling, or Blackjack 21 to be exact. The movie features actors Jim Strugess, Kevin Spacey, Laurence Fishburne, Kate Bosworth and Aaron Yoo.

Loosely based on the New York Bestseller book, Bringing Down The House, written by Ben Mezrich, (I say loosely because the movie had to be “glamed” up a bit for Hollywood), it journals the travels of a select few of highly skilled blackjack players who were students from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and “took Vegas for millions”; one student imparticular, Ben Campbell played by Jim Strugess who was recruited by his MIT math professor, Mickey Rosa, played by Kevin Spacey. The premise begins with mathematical whiz Ben Campbell needing to raise tuition to the tune of $300 Grand, to attend Harvard University and reluctantly agreeing to become part of his professor’s student card counters. The movie portrays Strugess’ character turning into a celebrity phenom of sorts trying to deal with all that goes along with that image.

Real life in the early 90’s had a set of Boston College Club students, aka the MIT Blackjack Team, “counting their cards” close to their vest and projecting a “beat the dealer/bringing down the house” gambling terror from casino to casino around the globe. Absorbing all they could from strategies in a book written by MIT professor Edward O. Thorp,  Beat The Dealer, the MIT Blackjack Team were quite successful at putting the theories and math computations of card counting and sometimes card steering and shuffle tracking into play. This elusive team remained under the radar for many years, unlike online casino whales (haha). Anyone familiar with the game of “21” knows what an important impact this had on blackjack history.

The film doesn’t go into detail about card counting but rather tries to be somewhat moralistic; kind of to the tune that “crime doesn’t pay” or at least not all of the time. Whether you like the movie or not, the fact remains that in the US and Canada alone, “21” was the top film in theaters this past weekend with $23.7 Million in ticket sales. This just attributes to how the majority of us along with Hollywood are intrigued with the clandestine world of gambling and the egocentric casino way of life.

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