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Kevin Spacey has fallen from grace as of late. The purple patch the New Jersey native experienced in the 1990s with Glengarry Glen Ross, The Usual Suspects, Se7en, L.A. Confidential, and American Beauty stand out as masterpieces any actor would welcome on their resume. The turn of the millennium however has seemingly created a new Spacey, a weaker metamorphosis of his former self with incredibly disappointing efforts such as Austin Powers in Goldmember and Fred Claus invading and consequently stinking up cinemas. One could argue the thespian has revisited his roots by supporting London's Old Vic theatre and uses the medium of film as a financial platform for his other business interests such as Trigger Street, a production company he owns which welcomes the work of aspiring screenwriters. Why then can't we see an original film from the thousands of screenplays submitted onto the institution's website every month? 21, the latest film from the company, is loosely based on Ben Mezrich's non-fiction yarn "Bringing Down the House" about an elite group of students who bettered the Las Vegas casinos at Blackjack. The book may be bubblegum fodder for the casual reader but it's actually a gripping ride and deserves a more superior filmic translation than director Robert Luketic's exertion. As for the former King Kevin, 2008 ostensibly continues the meagre streak of an actor who experienced a John Cazale-like untouchable period in an era which appears to be a distant memory.
Jim Sturgess' Ben Campbell (a standard Englishman playing an American with a peculiar accent) is a banal geeky student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. A brainwave one day however in a lecture draws him to the attention of his professor, Spacey's Micky Rosa, the kind of stone cold antagonist the actor relishes playing. Subsequently, Campbell is recruited to Rosa's specialist Blackjack team, an assemblage consisting of Kate Bosworth's Jill Taylor, Aaron Yoo's Choi, Liza Lapira's Kianna, and Jacob Pitts' Jimmy Fisher, all extremely one-dimensional. Unfortunately, the bulk of the screen time is dedicated to developing Campbell's guises - a Vegas marvel with the uber-intelligent clique, a familial high-achiever to his mother, and an alien to his best friends - and the rest of the roles lose out on any kind of deep characterisation. Consequently, it's very easy not to really care about the film when an X-factor doesn't draw the audience in - if the screenwriters, Peter Steinfeld and Allan Loeb, don't seem to bother about anyone else in the film aside from Campbell, why should we invest time in trying to understand the other ridiculously stereotypical personalities? For example, Rosa's previous gung-ho casino exploits from his youth are alluded to but are never fully explained. Flashbacks and loose reconstructions would have been very welcome if only to add to the tension.
Luketic presents a smorgasbord of missed opportunities. The Bosworth love interest never fully works because it's set up in such a shallow and artificial manner, Fishburne's Cole Williams is a deficient menace to the group's card counting scheme with the talented actor seemingly uncomfortable with his character's morally correct stance yet unrealistic 'hunting' techniques, and Spacey's performance has PAYCHEQUE written all over it. Sturgess anchors the film but his feats are too little too late.
The summary
The film's rapid pace equates to the lack of depth, and this major flaw alone will guarantee you won't be saying "Winner, winner, chicken dinner" whilst exiting the auditorium. No suspense whatsoever but kudos for the Ferris Bueller's Day Off reference, guys.
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