Despite some reviews calling the movie typical, I find it engaging and interesting. And that is a feat, I watch it from 2am to 4 plus. It actually has a few good concepts. Stuff like the interviewer for Robinson Scholarship asks to be dazzled, and Ben finally got to answer that at the end of the show.
"I had a 1590 on my SAT, I got a 44 on my MCAT, and I have a 4.0 GPA from MIT. I
thought I had my life mapped out, but then I remembered what my non linear
equations professor once told me, always account for variable change... I let
down my good friends, but as it turns out, they weren't too bad at simple math
either. I scored the prettiest girl in school. I got beaten down by an old
school Vegas thug who was having trouble excepting his retirement, but I worked
out a deal with him that got him a nice pension... And I lied to my mother, but
I confessed a lie and well, she still loved me... So my senior year of college I
joined this team and I learned this new skill. I went to Vegas 17 times to use
it. I made hundreds of thousands of dollars counting cards. And then I had it
all stolen from me, twice... How's that for life experience professor? Did I
dazzle you? Did I jump off the page?"
which also pretty much sums up the movie. The part about being anyone you want to be is so understandable. (I think the tag line should change to "You can be whoever you want to be.”) The film really made me saw instant karma, which sounded crappy but is actually rather interesting. I'm totally into the line "I will break your cheekbone with a small hammer. And then I will kill you." I had gone into the theatre for some card trick, but end up becoming more interested in Jim Sturgess, who played Ben, a MIT student desperate for money to attend Harvard Med. I did not recognise him, but he played Jude in "Across the Universe", which was an amazing film. The acting was good in that film, but the music is stunning, and Jim Sturgess can boast he did quite many of them. However, in "21", he is more of an eye-candy than nominee for Oscar, but that does not mean he is wasted. He looks amazing in the Armani suit, and if I have a chance, that will be my wallpaper.
