21

The film "21" isn't so much based on the true story of a scheme about beating the house in Las Vegas as it is intrigued by this idea: A charismatic but corrupt MIT math professor lures his top students into a gambling team, coaches them in card counting and codes for passing information, and then rakes in 50 percent of their winnings without setting foot in a casino. Jim Sturgess ("Across the Universe") is the working-class math genius Ben, a charismatic science nerd lured from his geek squad buddies by the allure of Team Vegas' sexy golden girl (Kate Bosworth, on hand largely as eye candy) and the charm of Kevin Spacey's professor-turned-gambling godfather. The film simply drops them all into a conventional tale of innocence corrupted by the dazzle of easy money, the fantasy life of Vegas excess, and the thrill of the illicit. It's pure formula jazzed up with music and sex and visual razzle-dazzle – all the easier to distract from the idiotic behavior of ostensibly smart people. It's the old Hollywood game of payback in place of amends, which makes for short-term satisfaction but a hollow payoff: a morality tale without a moral. Laurence Fishburne plays the only real wild card in this stacked deck of characters, an old-school security director who picks up Ben on his radar.

The release features commentary by director Robert Luketic with producers Dana Brunetti and Michael De Luca, and three featurettes, including the 25-minute "Basic Strategy: A Complete Film Journal," a perfectly engaging little production that really does get behind the scenes of the production (they shot on the floor of a working casino) and the culture. Whether the film is interesting enough to warrant that much of your attention is a call you have to make. Personally, I'd rather fold and cut my losses. The "2-Disc Special Edition" features a digital copy of the film (which can be downloaded to PC, iPod or other compatible players), and the Blu-ray release offers an interactive "21 Virtual Blackjack Game," which essentially means you can gamble virtually without having to get on to your computer. But if you have a BD-Live enabled player, you can compare high scores to other disc players.