Inspired by real events and people, 21 is about six MIT students who become trained to be experts in card counting in Black Jack and subsequently took Vegas casinos for millions in winnings.
Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. in Boston who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine with the desire to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 for the four to five years of schooling as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor Micky Rosa into a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa in the skill of card counting at blackjack. Intrigued by the desire to make money, Ben joins his new friends on secret weekend trips to Las Vegas where, using their skills of code talk and hand signals, they have Ben make hundreds of thousands of dollars in winning blackjack at casino after casino. Ben only wants to make enough money for the tuition to Harvard and then back out. But as fellow card counter Jill Taylor predicts, Ben becomes corrupted by greed and his arrogance at winning which lets his feelings get in the way, and it also puts Professor Rosa, as well as the group, on the radar of a brutal casino security enforcer named Cole Williams, who holds a personal grudge of some kind against Rosa which threatens to undo everything the students have learned and earned.—matt-282
Ben Campbell's dream has always been to go to Harvard Medical School. He is well on his way - he's bright and hard working, which he applies to both his school work and his part-time but low paying job at a men's clothier. In his senior year at M.I.T., he has been accepted to Harvard Medical School, but does not have the $300,000 it will take to finance it. He impresses one of his professors, Mickey Rosa, in class with his quick mind and ability to deal with the issue at hand without letting his emotions take over. Based on that, Mickey invites him into his small but secret society of students that have a system of winning at black jack through counting cards. They play in Vegas on a system of codes, rules and alternate identities, and where each person involved has a very specific role. This offer does not initially interest the straight-laced Ben until he is approached by Jill Taylor, another of those in the group and upon who Ben has a crush. He accepts their offer to be one of the big players on the understanding that he will do it only until he has enough to finance his Harvard education. Once Ben gets a taste of the big life, it starts to affect his original plan, including having unforeseen consequences of alienating his closest friends. He is also unaware that a casino security consultant named Cole Williams is on their tail, Williams who is working on his own personal agenda. Ultimately, greed, pride, ego, desperation and revenge all play a role in how involvement in this group affects Ben's life plan.—Huggo
In order to be accepted into Harvard School of Medicine, Ben Campbell will have to save $300,000 for the course. Only problem about this is the Ben can't get this amount of money. After being impressed by his skills in his Math's lesson, Prof. Micky Rosa invites Ben to become a member of a small group; a group who are planning to walk out of Vegas with millions, thanks to Ben's card counting.—FilmFanUk
Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), a mathematics major at MIT, is accepted into Harvard Medical School but cannot afford the $300,000 tuition. He applies for the prestigious Robinson Scholarship which would cover the entire cost. However, despite having an MCAT score of 44 and high grades, he faces fierce competition (from 76 other applicants, who are equally impressive), and is told by the director that the scholarship will only go to whichever student dazzles him.
Back at MIT, a professor, Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) challenges Ben with the Monty Hall Problem which he solves successfully. After looking at Ben's 97% score on his latest non-linear equations test, Micky invites Ben to join his blackjack team, which consists of fellow students Choi (Aaron Yoo), Fisher (Jacob Pitts), Jill (Kate Bosworth), and Kianna (Liza Lapira). Using card counting and covert signaling, they are able to increase their probability of winning while at casinos, leading them to earn substantial profits. Initially Ben refuses to join, but Micky asks Jill (who Ben has a crush on), to go to Ben and persuade him to join their team, as Ben is earning $8 per hr as an assistant manager at an apparel store downtown and is literally wasting his life down the toilet.
Over many weekends, the team is flown to Las Vegas and Ben comes to enjoy his luxurious lifestyle as a so-called big player. The team is impressed by Ben's skill, but Fisher becomes jealous and fights him while drunk, leading Micky to expel him. Meanwhile, the head of security, Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne), has been monitoring the team and begins to turn his attention to Ben. Cole has been under tons of pressure as most casinos are now going with facial recognition software, which is putting his manual security team out of business.
Meanwhile, Ben is making tons of money (up $100K), which has made him Micky's favorite. Fisher is jealous of Ben, while Jill has sex with him after giving him the cold shoulder for several weeks. Fisher gets drunk one night in Vegas and challenges Ben at the blackjack table and calls him a retard. He spills a drink on the mistress of a Russian mobster, which creates a major ruckus, and they team barely escapes. Micky kicks Fisher off the team.
Ben's devotion to blackjack causes him to neglect his role in an engineering competition, which estranges him from his friends. During the next trip to Las Vegas, he is emotionally distracted and fails to walk away from the table when signaled, causing him to lose his earnings of $200,000. Micky is angered and quits the team, demanding that Ben must repay $200,000. Ben and three of the students decide that they will continue to play blackjack without Micky, but they are caught by Williams, whom Micky tipped off. Williams beats up Ben and warns him not to return. Cole also reveals that years ago Micky cleaned out one of the casinos for 7 figures in a single night, which got Cole fired. Micky was never seen in a casino after that.
Ben learns that he is ineligible for graduation because his course taught by an associate of Micky's is marked as incomplete (with Micky's influence, the professor initially gives Ben a passing grade throughout the year without him having to work or even show up to class). Furthermore, his winnings are stolen from his dormitory room. Suspecting Micky, Ben confers with the other blackjack students, and they persuade Micky to make a final trip to Las Vegas before the casinos install bio-metric software. The team puts on disguises and returns to Planet Hollywood, winning $640,000 before they are spotted by Williams.
Micky flees with the bag of chips, jumping into a limousine, but realizes it was a setup when he discovers that the chips are fake. It is revealed that Ben and Williams made a deal to lure Micky to Las Vegas so that Williams may capture and beat him, because Williams has past grievances against him. Williams proceeds to hold Micky hostage and subject him to beatings. In exchange, Williams allows Ben to play for one more night in Las Vegas, enjoying immunity from capture. However, as Ben is leaving with his earnings, Williams betrays him and takes the bag of chips at gunpoint. Ben protests, and Williams explains that he needs retirement funds, whereas intelligent people like Ben will always find a way to succeed.
However, Ben's long-time friends (with whom he has reconciled) Miles (Josh Gad) and Cam (Sam Golzari) also turn out to be quite good at card-counting while working with Choi and Kianna during Micky's capture and as such, the now 6-man team make a lot of money despite Williams's robbery of Ben and Micky's chips. The film ends with Ben recounting the entire tale to the dazzled and dumbfounded scholarship director.
