21 is a the movie version of the book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. I read it last year and wrote a short review in this blog. It was an extremely fun and fast-paced book.
The movie was also fun. But it wasn’t as gripping. Or believable. Remember, the book was based on a true story. The movie changed some of the main plot lines to accomodate the “hollywood angles,” and it really lost some of its appeal. For example, the casino basement scenes with people getting beaten up?? That doesn’t happen. And they are simply not allowed to physically detain you – if they suspect you of counting cards, they can ask you to leave and that’s it.
I also found myself confused at the end. Did the team make a bunch of money on that last night or not? Was it all stolen, or had they properly accounted for variable change?
Also, it would have been more realistic to show them actually losing some big hands sometimes. Just because you count cards, doesn’t mean you’re not going to lose a lot of money sometimes. The edge they were working with was still pretty small – not big enough to guarantee you’ll win every hand. But i guess that would be too confusing for the general populace
All in all, it was an enjoyable movie, though. Kevin Spacy was awesome, though i would expect no less.
One other thing – i was intrigued to see the Monty Hall problem presented early in the movie. Here it is:
You’re on the gameshow Let’s Make a Deal and are present with 3 doors. You’re told behind one is a brand new car, and behind the other two are goats. You choose a door, say Door A. Monty (who knows which door the car is behind) then reveals what is behind Door C – a goat. And he says to you, i’ll give you a chance to switch your choice to Door B. Do you switch?It’s a fascinating problem if only because so many people get it wrong.