21
Jim Sturgess, his Cockney accent trying to peek through, plays Ben, a brilliant MIT student who has been accepted to Harvard Med but needs a lot of money to make it happen. His job at a clothing store isn’t going to cut it, and his chances for a full ride are slim to none. Enter Kevin Spacey as Mickey Rosa, a professor with a devious side job: He takes his most brilliant students on weekend jaunts to Vegas, where they count cards and make killings at blackjack tables. Sturgess, so good in Across the Universe, isn’t convincing as a mathematical genius, and neither is Kate Bosworth, for that matter. Come to think of it, Spacey is also not convincing as a mathematics professor. The only one who is really convincing in this film is Laurence Fishburne as a casino security guy who kicks the living shit out of people when he catches them crushing his tables. The film is loaded with clichés, and none of the actors distinguish themselves. Interesting subject done in a shallow way.