21 21 is an American
heist drama film released in the year 2008. The plot of the film follows a gifted and composed,
21-year-old boy, Ben Campbell who is in desperate need of money to pay for his med school.
So, he joins a blackjack team led by an unorthodox math professor Micky Rosa. Micky
prompts Ben to become a card-counting expert so he can swindle millions out of Las Vegas.
The film starts with 21-year-old Ben Campbell who is seen traveling to the Harvard Medical School on
his bike. Ben has been majoring in mathematics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology
and is now accepted into Harvard Medical School. However, he cannot afford the exorbitant amount of
tuition there so he has applied for the Robinson Scholarship which would cover the entire fee. The
dean of Harvard, Mr. Phillips, informs Ben that although he has the best grades and a
score of 44 on the MCAT, he will have to face tough competition to acquire the scholarship as
76 other applicants are also in the line. Although Philips is impressed with Ben,
he wants the scholarship to go to the student who “dazzles.” After meeting with Philips, Ben runs to
his job where he earns $8 an hour. While working, Ben tells his friend Miles that he has an essay to
write for the scholarship but is unable to figure out what he should write which dazzles the board.
Ben feels disappointed as he gave up all the fun during his school years
just to get into his dream college and now can’t afford to pay $300,000 for it after getting in.
Later Ben celebrates his 21st birthday with his friends, Miles, and Cam at a diner where his
mother works. Ben’s mother keeps pushing him to enjoy his life and not to be too hard on himself.
The next day at MIT, a professor named Micky Rosa is impressed with Ben’s intellectual knowledge.
Just to test Ben’s mathematical skills, he challenges Ben with the Monty Hall Problem.
Ben blows Micky’s mind by solving the problem effortlessly unlike most
people who get their emotions involved in solving it. After the class is over,
Micky is fascinated to see Ben’s 97% score on his latest non-linear equations test.
Later, while playing basketball with his friends, Ben keeps looking at a girl he likes,
but does not dare to approach her. After college hours, when Ben is in the library
studying, he is invited to the MIT Blackjack Team by Micky. At first, Ben is confused after
entering the room and asks Micky if he has messed up his test. Micky denies his assumptions and then
asks him to join his Blackjack team consisting of four team members which include fellow students
Kianna, Fisher, Choi, and Jill. Among the team, Jill is the same girl whom Ben was eyeing earlier.
Micky then explains the game to Ben and Ben instantly suspects that the team counts cards.
It turns out that this Blackjack team counts cards at casinos in Las Vegas to make money.
Ben refuses to join the team and tells Micky that since he has just been promoted at his job,
it will not be good for them to know that he counts cards. When the team insists on
Ben joining, he tries to stall them by saying that he has to focus on the science competition
in which he is building an auto-control car. Despite Micky’s constant insistence,
Ben does not agree and walks out of the class. The next day at work, his crush, Jill, shows
up while he is at work and encourages him to join the MIT Blackjack Team. She wants Ben to feel the
thrill of winning more money than he can possibly imagine. Ben once again refuses to join the team
as he does not think he has it in him to be a part of such an enthralling game. Before leaving,
Jill enlists the perks of Las Vegas just so it may persuade Ben into changing his mind. Later,
at night, Ben changes his mind and joins the team. Micky starts preparing Ben and enlightens him with
their tricks and tactics of counting cards. The team uses covert signaling which means they have
set specific words for numbers and specific numbers for words that they use to increase
their probability of winning at casinos, leading them to earn substantial profits.
Later, Ben tells Micky that he agreed to join the team only because he wants to earn $300,000
for his med school after which he will quit. When Ben expresses his fear of getting caught,
Micky assures him that counting cards isn’t illegal and that they have a proper system
that keeps everything under check. The team starts growing closer and after completely preparing Ben,
Micky arranges a trial run for him to check his capabilities. He is asked to go to a low-profile
club where he reads his team members’ signs and starts playing casino. Using his math skills,
he keeps swindling money. Ben is over the moon but just then, he is abducted by a group of thugs.
It turns out that it is Micky’s way of officially welcoming a member to his team. Later, Micky tells
Ben that he never had a student more genius than him. He also instructs Ben not to forget that he
counts cards, not gamble. The next day, before their flight to Las Vegas, Fisher takes Ben to
a restroom and asks him to hide $250,000 in his underwear as he has an innocent and non-suspicious
face. Finally, Ben passes the security checkpoint and takes a sigh of relief. Upon arriving in Las
Vegas, Ben’s eyes are wide open and he is awestruck by the liveliness of the city.
The team reaches the hotel suite where Micky warns Ben that in the club no one should know
that they are friends or acquaintances. The entire team enchants the motto “Don’t
get caught counting” to develop spirit and courage for the game. The next day,
Ben enters the casino and bets $10,000 in his opening shot. Using the skills and training,
he doubles the money and keeps on winning. While everyone leaves the club, Ben keeps
on playing till the morning and brings back a tonne of money. After he wakes up at the hotel,
Jill gives him his split and appreciates him for bringing more cash than Fisher.
Ben tells her that he will quit once he makes $300,000 for himself and Jill laughs it off.
Later, Micky calls for a team meeting and talks about everyone’s performance from last night. When
Micky praises Ben for his awesome work, Fisher starts reeking of jealousy. The team plays again
that night and the casino enforcer Cole Williams is worried to be losing his money terrifically.
The weekend comes to an end and the team flies back to Boston. Ben’s mother gives him a cheque
worth 68 thousand dollars to help him with his med school tuition fee. However, Ben refuses to
take the money and instead lies to his mother by saying that he has got the Robinson Scholarship.
Later, in his dorm, he counts the money that he has made and hides it under the false ceiling.
Just then, his friends Miles and Cam show up and inquire about his weekend activities.
Ben lies to them that he went to New Hampshire and forgot to take his cellphone.
The three friends go to a bar where Ben hits on Jill and his two friends are astonished to see
Ben finally gain the courage. Later, while Ben and Jill are on the subway, Ben attempts to kiss Jill
but she rejects his advances, making the scene real awkward. Weekends keep passing by and the
team keeps up with making millions of dollars. Ben starts enjoying his luxurious life as a high
roller big player and by now saves $100,000. In Boston, Ben’s life was a secret, whereas,
in Vegas, he lived his life to the fullest and pretended to be whoever he wanted.
Amidst the chaos, he never realized that he was being watched over. Monitored by the head of
the security and casino enforcer, Cole Williams who had his eyes on the team for quite some time
but now had specifically started focusing on Ben as Ben is the big player. Weekend after weekend
the team made millions of dollars, shopped their hearts out, and had the best time of their lives.
For Ben, dorm rooms turned into high-class suites and bicycles into stretch limos.
One day while clubbing in an expensive bar, the drunk Jill hits on Ben and the two make out. While
the team praises Ben for his intelligence, Fisher can’t handle someone else getting above him. So,
one night he gets drunk and tries to out Ben, creating a big scene in the casino.
Cole, who was about to catch Ben that night, misses him by luck. Later, Micky expels Fisher
from the team for his bad conduct. Although Fisher protests, Micky does not relent and kicks him out.
Ben is more than happy that Micky stood up for him and the team gets back to their work. One
night at a club, Jill seduces Ben and offers to show him her new suite. The two of them spend
the night together after which they return back to Boston. By now, Ben’s dorm’s ceiling is full
of cash and he cannot be more than happy about it. Later, that day he meets his friends Miles and Cam
with whom he is doing the science project. Ben shows up late and mistakenly brings the wrong chip
for the experiment. Although it is Ben’s honest mistake, his devotion to blackjack has caused him
to neglect his friends and the project. When Miles asks Ben to back out from their group project,
Ben is heartbroken and leaves, pretending he didn’t care about the project to even begin with.
During the next trip to Vegas, Ben feels distracted after getting estranged from his best
friends. While playing casino, he fails to notice Kianna’s hand signal which meant for him to walk
away from the table, causing him to lose $200,000. Micky loses his mind after finding out about the
loss and demands Ben give him all the money he has made up till now. Ben refuses as he has saved
everything for Harvard. Micky becomes enraged and quits the team, threatening Ben to repay him each
cent. After he leaves, Ben suggests making their own team and continuing playing. According to him,
Micky just brought the team together and took 50% of the cut without even doing anything.
Kianna and Choi agree to Ben’s idea but Jill hesitates. She reminds Ben that he
decided to quit once he has made $300,000 and now that he already has 315 grand saved up,
he should give up. However, Ben is obsessed with Vegas life and refuses to quit. They continue to
play the weekend without Micky and just when Ben is crushing the table, Micky spies on them
and tips off Cole. While Kianna flees away with Jill, Ben is caught and brutally beaten by Cole,
who warns Ben not to return back and also reveals to him his past association with Micky.
Turns out Micky was once a successful card counter who got Cole fired after winning
over a million dollars in one night at his casino while he was away at his father's funeral. Ever
since then Micky never showed his face to Cole: a reason why he didn’t do the card counting himself
Dejected, Ben returns to Boston only to discover that he cannot graduate because
one of his courses taught by an associate of Micky's is marked as incomplete.
As he enters his dorm room, he is devastated to see it turned upside down and all his savings
gone from the ceiling where he used to hide them. Later, while teaching in the class, Micky recounts
a story about a student who double-crossed his teacher and ended up getting destroyed.
He tries to reflect it on Ben, enraging him even more. After losing everything, Ben approaches Jill
and asks her to help him look for a way to get back all that he has lost. Later, Ben cheers for
his friends when they win the science competition. He then narrates his entire story to Miles and
apologizes to him for neglecting him after which both the friends make up. Ben then approaches
Micky while he is at an alumni dinner and persuades him to bring the team together
once again before the facial recognition software gets installed in the casinos.
He asks Micky to play with them this time so they can make even more than they ever had.
Micky agrees and the team makes their final trip to Vegas. To avoid getting recognized, they put on
disguises and start counting cards, getting the tables crushed. At the end of the night, they
end up winning $640,000. Just then, Cole spots them so Ben and Micky quickly put away all the
money chips in a bag and prepare to run away. Cole and his men follow the team outside the casino.
While evading them, Micky asks Ben to hand him the bag of chips so he can keep it safe.
However, Micky had an intention to run away with the money. He jumps into a limousine,
asking the driver to take him to the airport. On his way, he checks the bag only to discover that
it is full of chocolate coins instead of casino chips. A flashback scene reveals that Ben and
Cole made a deal to lure Micky to Las Vegas so that Cole could take his revenge on him.
Another scene reveals that Ben exchanged the bag with Jill before leaving the casino.
Just then, Micky’s limousine driver reveals himself and he turns out to be one of Cole’s men.
On the other hand, Ben and Jill pack their things to get going and are encountered by Cole.
Cole appreciates Ben for his efforts and tells him that he will get Micky to sort out his
graduation problem. Cole then double-crosses Ben and asks him to return his winnings for that day.
Although they had a deal that Ben will keep the winnings, Cole explains that he is looking for
retirement and wants the funds. When Ben protests, Jill asks him to give the bag as Cole has a gun.
Ben gives the winnings to Cole after which Cole meets Micky and tells him that he is going to
report him to the IRS for his untaxed winnings. Later, it is revealed that Ben’s old friends,
Miles and Cam also turned out to be pretty good at card counting. They along with Choi and
Kianna made a lot of wins while Micky was being captured. The film ends with Ben narrating his
life experience to Harvard’s professor Mr. Philips about how he scored the prettiest girl in school,
made a deal with Cole that got him a nice pension, made millions in Vegas, and got his winnings
stolen twice. Seeing Mr. Philip’s jaw drop, Ben asks him if his story “dazzled” him or not?
This movie has a rating of 6.8 on IMDb. The budget of this movie was around $35 million
and at the box office, it earned $159.8 million. I hope you all liked this video. If yes, then
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