Story is about a MIT whiz Ben Campbel (Jim S) with 4 CGPA and near perfect profile applying for Harvard Med. Alas! HM will not take him on a full schol for 300 grand course unless he writes a dazzling scholarship essay. Tale begins, the boy returns to MIT to find himself being spotted by an astute professor (Kevin Spacey) in an intersting class session solving 'three door variable change problem'. The boy is offered an admit into an underground BlackJack team that travels to Vegas on weekends to con casinos by card counting. Initially for the 300 grand and a girl-interest who is already part of the gang, he joins the team and finds himself a pro at it. String of events make him huge money, turns him out of favor from his friends, then one of his gang members and finally the prof himself. What was a sophisticated cheating technique through 'simple math' then turns into pure gambling on luck. Losing the money, then losing the girl and then losing even the MIT course, the boy lands himself into the hands of a card counting detective (ex-card counter himself played by Lawrence Fishbourne). The movie then shows him redeeming himself and still walking out with some cash and of course, lest we forget, a theme for an essay that surely 'dazzles' the ad com chief :D)
Ups :
- Stays faithful to the novel 'Bringing down the house' based on true events
- Charms the uninitiated and a BlackJack pro alike. Reasonably pacy.
- Spacey, Jim and the rest of cast pull it off quite well without major hiccups
Downs:
- Neither the game nor the card counting is explained well (Assuming a minimum level of intelligence with the viewer :) )
- The script could be made more convincing. Viewer is not easily led into belief that all this is possible. Classic example - Oceans 11 - Conning a casino, without being from MIT, was never more chic and sexier
A decent watch if you like esoteric cinema or simply if you are a fan of blackjack or the science behind it... :)
