’21’ just good enough to keep audience entertained

While it tries to be a hip and adventurous take on high stakes gambling and card counting in Las Vegas, "21" only succeeds in overdramatizing the glitz and glamour of our city while making its star -- MIT student Ben Campbell, played by the puppylike Jim Sturgess -- look like a naive and gullible loser.

In "21," which loosely is based on the book "Bringing Down the House" about card-counter Jeff Ma, the innocent Ben needs money so he can attend medical school at Harvard University. Ben tries for a full-ride scholarship to the school but is told he probably won't get it since he doesn't jump off the page in his scholarship application.

Ben is given an opportunity to make money by one of his new teachers, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey). Rosa heads a team of card-counting students who go to Las Vegas during weekends to make money. Impressed by Ben's obvious intelligence, Micky offers him a spot on the team.

Ben initially is appalled by the idea but soon is persuaded by a combination of his financial need and the fact that his crush, Jill Taylor (Kate Bosworth), is a member of the team.

Ben soon abandons his friends and the 2.09 robotics competition they plan to enter so he can go to Las Vegas over weekends to earn quick and easy cash.

Of course, Ben says he only plans on doing this until he earns the $300,000 he needs for his Harvard tuition. However, he soon has more than enough money for school and no plan to stop counting cards.

Perhaps the most entertaining part of the movie is seeing familiar casinos such as the Red Rock, Hard Rock and Planet Hollywood on the big screen. All of these places are dramatized to the extreme, making them seem way cooler than the loud and smoky tourist traps they actually are.

The air of melodrama is enhanced by several over-done scenes. In one such scene, the audience watches in slow motion as casino security thug Cole Williams, played by the menacing Laurence Fishbourne, drops his cigarette into a cup of water to put it out.

The casino chase scene where Ben, Micky and Jill run from security guys is another overdone scene -- there's no way anyone could run that quickly through a crowded casino and into its backrooms while wearing high heels.

Despite all the overdramatization, "21" certainly was better than I expected. The plot was just quick enough, the comic-relief just funny enough and the characters just cute enough to keep me entertained throughout the movie.

It's not quite worth the price of a movie ticket, but it's certainly good enough to rent once it's available on DVD.