Patman

Quick setup, super-smart MIT student Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) is 'drafted' into a blackjack ring headed by Prof. Rosa (Kevin Spacey) and 4 other MIT students, who go on weekend jaunts to Las Vegas to win money. "Counting cards" is the method used for opportunistic blackjack play, and the team members are situated as spotters and players to get the best of a hot shoe in blackjack. Ben just wants to go to Harvard medical school, but needs either a full ride scholarship, or $300,000. The odds of winning the scholarship being greater than earning the money needed via blackjack is most of the impetus for Ben to join in on the fun, also having Jill (Kate Bosworth) in the mix and on the team didn't hurt the cause.

What follows is somewhat of a roller-coaster ride of the highs and lows of playing big and and betting recklessly. The film has a 4-act structure, and it languishes in between the 2nd and 3rd act, which causes the film to drag in spots, and feels about 10 minutes too long. Outside of some nifty tracking shots here and there, the direction didn't call attention to itself, and the script needed a little more polish (or a bit more editing to tighten it up).

I give it 2.75 stars or a grade of B-.

DAC

I really enjoyed the book. Sounds like the classic "the book was better than the movie" thing going on here. I'm still looking forward to seeing this however.

Mittman

Saw it. It was good, but not great. I too loved the book.

To be honest, the stuff from the book was what worked best. The whole med school motive, romance subplot, and the entire 3rd act seemed too forced . . . too Hollywood. The meat of the film -- mainly the 2nd act where we learn the logistics of how the operation worked -- was pretty solid. I wish we could have seen more of that and some of the stuff that was left out of the book (all the trips to the riverboat casinos, anything in AC or an Indian casino, and the "rival" team).

Worth checking out if you liked the book*, but bear in mind it's more of an "inspired by" version of Bringing Down the House than a straight film translation.

*or worth checking out if you think Kate Bosworth is hot.

fumanstan

Saw this yesterday afternoon; never read the book or heard of the story, just dug the concept of it all. It was pretty good, but I agree it felt 10 minutes too long. I'd also agree with what was mentioned about the highs not being high enough, and the lows not being low enough. Ben just never seemed convincingly down enough after losing it all, and the highs in vegas just didn't seem as great as it could be. The ending also didn't seem like it finished with as tense of a climax as I hoped.

Still, there wasn't really anything bad about the whole movie, and Bosworth looked really cute in this movie. Far better then her Lois Lane. All the friends and roleplayers did great too. Spacey and Fishburne both were great and convincing in their roles.

ElementZ

Saw this tonight and though it was good. I enjoyed it but the book was much much better.

asianxcore

Saw this with one of my friends last night. Both agreed it was kind of "meh"

It was alright.

DAC

I agree. Saw this Thursday. It was ok. Kate Bosworth was though

atari2600

read the book which i loved. but the movie was still pretty good. of course it cant be as good but it doesnt make the movie a bad one. still enjoyable.

Zen Peckinpah

Just saw this tonight. The print looked horrendous, almost like a bootleg projected on screen (i.e. really misty). I enjoyed it far more than I thought; Kevin Spacey was nothing but the fucking man whenever he appears, and Jim Sturgess made a serviceable lead. Kate Bosworth was far better cast here (and much better looking) than her notorious miscasting in Superman Returns.

The execution was solid, the plot didn't really lull, and the twists didn't feel pulled out of the writer's ass (haven't read the book, but might after liking this). Played like House of Games for the iTunes generation, and to further fuel the Mamet idea I had I kept having Glengarry Glen Ross flashbacks whenever Spacey started to act like a douche.

And much to the contrary of my suspicions, the PG-13 rating wasn't a big deal at all. Overall a tight, vastly entertaining movie that does the job of being a good movie.

I'd say *** out of four for this. I actually might pick up the Blu-ray for this.

Goldberg74

I saw it tonight. I give it a B+. Good pacing, never got very boring.

I didn't like Cowboy Carl in his role. I was waiting for Trinity and Co. to show up.

DJLinus

Saw this last night and thought it was very entertaining. Out of the three Spacey/Bosworth movies that I've seen, this is the best.

I liked the soundtrack a lot. And the movie really made me want to go back to Vegas.

EdTheRipper

I just finished watching this. I liked it quite a bit. Movie was very interesting and moved along at a nice pace.

hapgilmore

Watched this a couple days ago. It has exactly 2 things going for it: some nifty camera work and KEVIN SPACEY! Spacey dominated the film whenever he was on screen and it made me think "WHY THE HELL DIDN'T THEY MAKE THE MOVIE ABOUT HIS CHARACTER!?!?" Think about it, they could have told the story from his perspective (show exactly what happened in his past and how he came to form this team), and it could have been a great movie. As it is, its merely ok. Jim Sturgess was boring to me, as was the rest of the cast. The ending also seemed contrived with all these twists feeling very phony. But Spacey glues you to the screen, it's amazing how charismatic and compelling he is to watch.

2 stars out of 4 for me.

project86

It's Cowboy Curtis man, how could you get that wrong?

JimRochester

Just got to see this. It was pretty good. I don't know if I'll rewatch it but it was interesting. Just knowing the history of the MIT group, I notived they made this group present day when the real group was several years ago. Long before Google and cell phones in every pocket.