21

Kate Bosworth and Jim Sturgess in 21. Kevin Spacey lurks menacingly.

Robert Luketic's 21, from 2008, is a singularly unmemorable movie. The premise is interesting: an MIT professor becomes a gambling Svengali to his students and takes them to Vegas where they display their card counting prowess at the blackjack table. As in Wall Street, the film becomes a parable in which a greenhorn is seduced by the lure of lucre and abandons the traditional values instilled in him by his parents. However, Luketic doesn't have the cinematic chops of Oliver Stone and the results are forgettable. Even Kevin Spacey, one of the producers of the film, gives a dull performance. Laurence Fishburne has some interesting moments as a casino security enforcer, but his subplot feels truncated. When Kate Bosworth delivers the best performance in a film, you know you are in trouble. Jim Sturgess displays a lack of charisma as the lead. A snoozer.