Winner Winner Chicken Dinner - 21 (2008)


I don't know if pushing for gambling is a great way to earn money but give this film a leeway.  The lead played by Jim Sturgess as Ben Campbell is a mathematic major and was accepted to Harvard Medical School.  He can't afford the tuition so he applies with the Robinson Scholarship.  He went to the interview and the interviewer asked him what will make his lifestory "jump out of the page" and eventually land him that scholarship.  And his lifestory begins.

Ben started off in the movie as a brilliant student as a nobody, a geek with great grades with a steady low paying job as a sales clerk in a suit store.  It will be a boring film if we continue with this story line but of course they have to liven it up.

He had a problem, his tuition for Harvard Medical School and he knows he can't afford it with his sales clerk of a salary.  Even with his mom's cheque, simply he can't go the medical school.  Here comes the solution in the likes of Professor Micky Rosa (played by the great Kevin Spacey).  He offers Ben the chance to earn that USD300,000 easy.  Of course he had to know if Ben was capable of the task.  He introduces him to his blackjack team and checks out if he could "count" cards.  Eventually he learned the trick and in no time he was great in counting cards.  It by the way is illegal in casinos so being caught doing so will have great repercussions.  

Ben knows the risks and finally dives in the world of gambling.  Every weekend they go to Las Vegas to win over the casinos.  I didn't know how extreme effort was into card counting and this movie shows the intricacies of it.  As usual, they win big and to add twist to this, Ben lost all his money.  He had then made efforts to win it all back, of course or else boring of a film right?  Who watches a movie with the lead losing in the end (except for bad guy or chinese films)?

Kevin Spacey played it great here as the mentor.  He is a great actor already and this one here I can list as one of his best.  Mix in Laurence Fishburn, and you have a great recipe for a great film.  All I can't dig is the fact that a mathematic major would be interested in becoming a doctor.  Except for this thing, the film is a great watch.



Complete with drama, pitting his old friends with his new friends, his great desire to get into Harvard, his relationship with his mentor professor and his interactions with the casino security guy, his love for his mom, all was worth the time watching the film.  Add in action, yes action, there are a number of chases and some bit of violence in the movie, all it lacks is a song and dance number.

Currently showing in Amazon Prime if you want to watch this.

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