Director – Robert Luketic
Screenplay – Peter Steinfield, Allan Loeb and Ben Mezrich
“There are things which seem incredible to most men who have not studied mathematics.” –
Aristotle
*Plot
*Gifted M.I.T student Ben Campbell(Jim Sturgess) seeks admission in the prestigious Harvard School of medicine. His odds for getting the Robinson Scholarship is 1 in 76. The other way out is to arrange$300, 000 for the fees. During an advanced maths class, he succeeds in solving the simple yet tricky, three door variable change problem by the professor Mickey Rosa(Kevin Spacey). He invites him to be a part of a secret group of students whose aim is to go to Las Vegas casino every weekend and win large amounts of money in the card game of black jack. The secret is that all of them use the technique of card Counting. In that technique, one can determine and track when will the dealer have a high card and low card. Its principle is based on the science of permutation and combination. However a winner will always have enemies. One of them is a jealous team member, Fisher(Jacob Pitts) and another is a casino security consultant, Cole Williams(Laurence Fishburne).
Critic’s Comments
The movie is based on the real life MIT blackjack team that operated from 1979 for nearly 21 years. It is a clichéd movie however the performances, more or less, make up for an otherwise crippled script. Kevin Spacey is at his usual best. Jim Sturgess impresses as well and proves to be someone who will get lot of accolades for his acting in years to come. The night life of Las Vegas has been captured beautifully by Cinematographer Russel Carpenter. I would recommend watching this movie. Perfect Movie to watch on a nice cool rainy evening in a theatre.
Psst –
1) Jeff Ma, the person on whom the character of Ben Campbell is based, can be seen in a scene as a black jack dealer in Planet Hollywood.
2) The original MIT blackjack team didn’t have any Americans. All of them were either from Asian or Caucasian origin.
3) Movie was made on a budget of$35 million and grossed nearly$135 million worldwide.
Quotes
1) “We count cards, not gamble.”
2) “Winner, winner, chicken dinner.”
3) “Ben, I said google, not sizzler.”
4) “Hey, you steal The Bible, you go to hell, those are the rules; Like I’m not going anyway.”
5) “The only thing worse than a loser is someone who won’t admit he played badly.”
6) “Always account for variable change.”
7) “You are only ever as good to me as the money you make.”
8) “I am not your father, this is a business.”
Oops- None that I could notice