Another true story turned Hollywood. This is the tale of a group of MIT students who made some major bank counting cards in Vegas -- something that is supposed to be completely legal, albeit damned difficult.
But of course, this is the Hollywood version, so all of the students have to be really pretty (except for Kate Bosworth, who the studios keep trying to tell me is pretty but is in fact freakishly skinny and has an odd, not-pretty face). And Kevin Spacey get to be their too-cool-for school professor/gang leader.
Since it was Spacey that got me to drop 10 bucks on this flick, it was good to see him. His part was pretty formulaic, but he pulled it off well.
And because it's a Hollywood flick, we've got to add strippers, crazy quirks, costumed blackjack players and drammah, this time in the form of Laurence Fishburne as a old-school casino security chief.
The movie had great style, and showed off the casinos and Vegas locations very well, with a lot of interesting camera work and slick dissolves. The best parts of the film were the sequences at the blackjack tables, and I wish they would have cut back a little on the "Ben needs cash for medical school" plot (apparently he's never heard of financial aid) to focus more on what was fun.
Overall, though, it was an enjoyable waste of time after dinner on a Saturday night. The best part, though, was how my sweetie summed the movie up:
"Do anything to win in Vegas and Laurence Fishburne will kick your ass."
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