21 (movie)

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Movie
German title 21st
Original title 21st
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2008
length 123 minutes
Age rating FSK 12
JMK 10
Rod
Director Robert Luketic
script Peter Steinfeld ,
Allan Loeb
production Michael De Luca ,
Dana Brunetti ,
Kevin Spacey
music Dave Sardy
camera Russell Carpenter
cut Elliot Graham
occupation
synchronization

21 is an American film drama from the year 2008 . The film is based on the journalistic non-fiction book Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich , whereby the original book was only very loosely taken over into the plot of the film. 21 celebrated its world premiere on March 7, 2008 at the South by Southwest Film Festival . The book is based on the activities of one of the various MIT blackjack teams , which from 1979 to this century toured the casinos of the world with card counting in blackjack and won large amounts of money. In the film, the casinos try to prevent this by using violence.

action

Ben Campbell is a formidable student at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology who is working with friends on a research project for a technology competition and dreams of taking up medicine at Harvard University . Since he cannot pay the exorbitant tuition fees, he applies for a scholarship. The judge in charge tells him that there are a lot of students with similar résumés and that he should tell him a story that would knock him off his chair in order to get the scholarship. Campbell tells his story in a flashback: One day he is invited to a secret group by his math professor Micky Rosa. Rosa recruits the faculty's most talented students. Under his guidance they learn how to calculate the card game Black Jack . Campbell initially refuses. Rosa quickly makes it clear to Ben how powerful he is, for example by being able to give him excellent final grades through his influence without Ben having to submit the actually necessary work. Ben, who needs the money, then joins the team. The group flies to Las Vegas every weekend and plays cards under false identities in various casinos. By counting cards and using a special sign language, you win such large sums of money. It doesn't take long before Cole Williams, who is responsible for security in various casinos and is a specialist in the field of strategic gaming, becomes aware of him and the group. Seduced by the wealth, the colorful life in Las Vegas and the opportunity to develop a relationship with his intelligent and beautiful teammate Jill Taylor, Ben keeps increasing his stakes. Because he does not pay enough attention to his research project, he has an argument with his former best friends, who feel neglected, accuse him of lacking interest and finally no longer want to work with him. From then on, Ben is frustrated, one evening at the gaming table he does not rely on his rational thinking and ignores the signs of his colleagues to end the game. In one night he loses two hundred thousand dollars, which leads to a dispute with Professor Rosa, who demands the money back from Ben. Ben refuses and accuses Rosa of not taking any risk and cashing in anyway. Rosa then leaves the hotel with his luggage, declares that she will fly back to Boston alone, and leaves the four students in Las Vegas. After some discussion, the group decides to continue playing under the new leadership of Ben without their old leader.

However, Professor Rosa is still in Las Vegas, observing the troupe and anonymously betraying Ben to Williams, who then intercepts Ben at the gaming table and beats him up in a separate room. After returning to Boston, Ben notices that Rosa stole all of the fortune he had made, which he had hidden in his student room, and also caused Ben to be included in the course, for which he did not submit a thesis due to Rosa's promise, failed. Ben's prospects seem increasingly fading as both his graduation from MIT and his further career at Harvard University are in jeopardy. He therefore proposes a final coup to Micky Rosa. Together they want - disguised, because special facial recognition software has already saved their faces - to cash in again before the increasing electronic surveillance of casinos finally puts a stop to their activities.

That evening they are watched by Williams, who now sees the chance to finally strike. At the last moment, the card counters can escape without parting. Rosa escapes with the loot in a car, but finds there that she has fallen into the hands of Williams' people, and the loot has also been cleverly exchanged by Ben for chocolate chips. Ben meets Williams, and it becomes clear that the two had agreed on this approach. Right from the start, Williams sensed Micky Rosa behind the action, which a long time ago had already brought high losses to a casino for which Williams was responsible, which had led to Williams' termination at the time. Ben has to hand over his winnings to Williams, who wants to retire with it. Williams underlines his demand by showing Ben a revolver.

Back in Boston, Ben makes up with his friends and gets his MIT degree. In addition, his friends are also good at numbers and have analyzed the card game. Together they form a new team that earns large sums of money. At the end of the film, he visibly impressed the judge in charge of the Harvard scholarship by telling him his exciting life story.

production

The title of the film refers to the French card game Vingt et un (French for "twenty-one"), from which the game Black Jack is derived.

The film shows two mathematical strategies, mainly from the areas of probability and statistics, in order to increase the chances of winning in games of chance.

  • The game show problem, also known as the Monty Hall problem or the goat problem : This strategy refers to game shows in which there are three doors to choose from, with one behind a win and behind the other two rivets. The question is solved mathematically and nowadays often serves as an introduction to probability theory .
  • The card counting : The method can be used in today's games because of retaliation by the casinos for card issuance or hardly at all anymore.

Kevin Spacey was originally only intended to produce the film, but then the role of Mickey Rosa was written for Spacey by Peter Steinfeld , so that he was involved in the production of the film both in front of and behind the camera. The casino of the MGM Grand Hotel was one of the casinos, which the MIT Blackjack Team to Jeff Ma was brought by counting cards to large sums of money. Nevertheless - or perhaps because of it - MGM took over the production of the film and the casino operators agreed to the shooting in their casino, which was carried out while the casino was still open. One of the MIT students involved, Jeff Ma, received a cameo as blackjack dealer Jeffrey at Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino . In this role he is greeted by the main actor Ben Campbell with the words "Jeffrey, my brother in spirit" as an allusion to the origin of Ben's role. The premises of the University of Boston were used for the interior recordings that played at MIT , as there was no filming permit for the premises of MIT.

Production costs were estimated at $ 35 million. The film grossed around $ 158 million in cinemas worldwide, including $ 81 million in the United States.

synchronization

The synchronization was produced at FFS Film- & Fernseh-Synchron in Berlin. The dialogue book was written by Klaus Bickert and Stephan Klapdor , and the dialogue was directed by Axel Malzacher .  

role actor speaker
Ben Campbell Jim Sturgess Markus Pfeiffer
Mickey pink Kevin Spacey Till Hagen
Jill Taylor Kate Bosworth Dascha Lehmann
Cole Williams Laurence Fishburne Tom Vogt
Cam Sam Golzari Tobias Nath
Choi Aaron Yoo Till Endemann
Ellen Campbell Helen Carey Eva Kryll
Fisher Jacob Pitts Julien Haggége
Kianna Liza Lapira Anna Carlsson
Miles Connoly Josh Gad Gerrit Schmidt-Foss
Professor Bob Phillips Jack Gilpin Wolfgang Condrus
Stamp Spencer Garrett Lutz Riedel
Terry Jack McGee Hartmut Neugebauer

criticism

“Despite the good cast and the exciting story,” according to Alina Bacher of Filmstarts, “ the story unfortunately loses a bit of speed towards the end, but that doesn't spoil the fun with popcorn. If you want just under two hours of good and gripping entertainment, '21' is the right place for you. ”Margret Köhler from kino.de praised the actors, because the“ sparkling and exciting trip into the glittering world lives from Jim Sturgess as a shy high-flyer and Oscar winner. Prize winner Kevin Spacey as a cunning puller ”.

Novel to film

Soundtrack

  1. The Rolling Stones : "You Can't Always Get What You Want" (Remixed by Soulwax) - 6:07
  2. MGMT : "Time To Pretend" (Super Clean Version) - 4:20
  3. LCD sound system : "Big Ideas" - 5:41
  4. D. Sardy featuring Liela Moss: "Giant" - 3:42
  5. Amon Tobin : "Always" - 3:38
  6. Peter Bjorn and John : "Young Folks" - 4:37
  7. Junkie XL featuring Electrocute : "Mad Pursuit" - 4:16
  8. Get Shakes: "Sister Self Doubt" - 4:22
  9. Aliens: "I Am The Unknown" - 5:27
  10. Rihanna : "Shut Up And Drive" - ​​3:34
  11. Knivez Out: "Alright" - 3:31
  12. Domino Jordan Galland : "Tropical Moonlight" - 3:28
  13. Unkle: "Hold My Hand" - 4:58
  14. Mark Ronson featuring Kasabian : "LSF (Lost Souls Forever)" - 3:32
  15. Broadcast: "Tender Buttons" - 2:51
  16. The Octopus Project: "Music Is Happiness" - 3:40

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Release certificate for 21 . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry , March 2008 (PDF; test number: 113 603 K).
  2. ↑ Age rating for 21 . Youth Media Commission .
  3. ↑ Extras of the DVD edition (Black Jack Edition) - "Basic strategy: A complete film diary"
  4. ↑ 21 (2008) - Box Office Mojo. Accessed August 31, 2019 .
  5. ↑ German synchronous index: German synchronous index | Movies | 21. Retrieved September 13, 2017 .
  6. ^ Criticism , film releases , Alina Bacher
  7. ^ Criticism , Margret Köhler

Web links