Genre Guesstimation – 21 (2008)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s Genre has been chosen by Dan of Slipthrough Movies We will be reviewing our favorite Crime Movies.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of February by sending them to criminaldan@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Great choice Dan!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Crime Films…

“You know, you should just ask her out, man. It’s not like she’s a rocket scientist or anything. Oh, wait, she is. ” – Miles

Number of Times Seen – 2 (1 Jun 2008 and 21 Feb 2016)

Brief Synopsis – A gifted MIT student is recruited by a professor to join a team of students that work together to beat the odds and win millions gambling in Las Vegas casinos using their mathematical genius to ‘count’ cards.

My Take on it – I saw this movie 8 years ago and fondly remembered it because the premise was interesting.

It actually starts off very good giving us a fine introduction to the characters and the situations they find themselves in.

The cast is pretty good because it features a bunch of up and coming young stars.  The problem tho with the casting is headlining Laurence Fishburne and Kevin Spacey who are essential characters, but neither has much screen time.  It quite often feels that they were used here just for the sole purpose of name recognition for the posters.

Unfortunately, this story tapers off around the mid-point and then it never manages to recover.

The story is fast-paced and filled with montages of gambling scenes and Vegas which helps make it all feel much more realistic and believable.

Unfortunately, at the same time it detracts from the spectacle of it all.

Bottom Line – Very interesting premise that starts off really good and then falters around the midway point without managing to recover. Nice cast of young stars but Spacey and Fishburne feel just tacked on for name recognition. Fast paced gambling and a full array of montages work to the believability but also detract from the spectacle of it all.

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – The problem Prof. Rosa mentions in class with the three doors is known as the Monty Hall problem. (From IMDB)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Nope. This is a movie with a good premise, but it loses it’s momentum in the final act.

Rating – BAFTA Worthy

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