21 [2008]

21 [2008]

Full Story Summary :-

Movie Spoiler Warning!! [Can Ruin A Movie Ending]

MIT senior math major Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is accepted into Harvard Medical School but cannot afford the $300,000 cost. 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 the math test, 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, Ben refuses to join the team on the premise he had been promoted at his job. Next day, Jill visits Ben at his job and attempts to coax him, hence Ben joins the team that evening. 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, but Fisher becomes jealous of Campbell's blackjack success. Rosa kicks a drunken Fisher off the team after he insults Campbell and incites a melee. 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 one of his classes 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 with the intention of stealing the winnings, but finds his bag is full of chocolate coins and that the casino manager is in his car's front seat.

Williams, the casino manager, 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 his casino job by winning a large sum by 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.