Based on a book telling the true story of Jeffery Ma, 21 is director Robert Luketic’s breakaway from the sugar-coated romantic comedies he has done such as Legally Blonde, Monster-in-Law and Win a Date with Tad Hamilton! It stars Kevin Spacey, Kate Bosworth and an up-and-coming Jim Sturgess, who portrays the ringleader of six card-counting, blackjack-scoring MIT students who took Vegas for millions in the 1990s.

In September 2002, Wired magazine printed an article previewing Bringing Down the House by Ben Mezrich. His agent, scrambling to option the nonfiction piece, and trigger Street Productions, a company owned by Spacey, had already bought the rights though Luketic was ready at that point “to flex a different muscle” than the ones he’d used with so many Stepford-styled storylines. In a fateful surprise, a script titled 21 made it back around into Luketic’s hands years later.

Collaboration with Trigger Street followed. No casting decisions had been made at that point, but Spacey seemed a shoe-in for the role of Mickey Rosa, the corrupt teacher and savant who uses the talents and desires of top scholars at his school to operate a high-stakes plan that sets him up to gain as much as all his scheming players do combined. Counting cards is not illegal, nor is it against the rules of blackjack, but this doesn’t prevent casino operators (neither in real life nor in the movie) from going to great lengths to minimize loss. The part of the negligent professor was well played, but this character was no John Doe. Deviant? Surely. Evil? Hardly. And Rosa was far less captivating or interesting than the true star, Sturgess. He steals the show as Ben Campbell, the focus of the film.

Ben represents the factual Ma, who is on screen in several scenes as a dealer at the real-life Planet Hollywood (all casino floor scenes were shot on location in Las Vegas). A question in the minds of sharp viewers — and out of the mouths of brave ones — is how a Chinese-American transformed into a Caucasian collegiate with a name to fit. Those who have read the source book know Ma as Kevin Lewis, a name that gives no overt racial hints. Neither of these generational changes seem to bother Ma. Casting calls were done from New York to Hong Kong. Luketic sought the best person to play the role, and Ma agrees with Luketic’s choice. “I can’t imagine a better person to play me than [Sturgess],” he said. Besides that, Luketic notes that many dramatic liberties were taken to the viewing pleasure of plenty.

Freedoms like these enhance the film to the point that the floor scenes will stun audiences, under-17s get something of a thriller without Mom and Dad in tow and a romance for a side plot reminds Luketic’s old fans of his sweeter days. An excitingly funny, exhilaratingly twisted drama, 21 is no bust.

[Reach reporter Maddie Hall at arts@thedaily.washington.edu.]