DVDs of the week, July 22

Rocky Mountain News

Published July 21, 2008 at 6 p.m.

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Kevin Spacey, right, plays an MIT professor who trains students to count cards at blackjack in 21.

Jm Sturgess plays a money-challenged med-school hopeful who joins the crew.

21

Rated: PG-13, 123 minutes, $28.96, Sony

Grade: C

If the brainy MIT students in 21 are smart enough to beat the Las Vegas casinos, ponders Associated Press critic David Germain, why aren't they bright enough to avoid ethical pitfalls that should have been obvious to "a C-minus statistics 101 student"? They just aren't, and that's why the movie becomes a sophomoric morality play about greed, Germain says.

The plot revolves around a brilliant but money-challenged med-school hopeful joining a gang of students who use a strategy known as counting cards to increase their odds of winning at blackjack. Avarice - and casino security - eventually gets the better of them.

* In stores next week: Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo, Shine a Light, The Band's Visit, Never Back Down, Doomsday

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