The best part of the 1988 film Rain Man was when Dustin Hoffman’s autistic-savant character makes thousands of dollars counting cards at blackjack. At just over ten minutes long, the scene left us chomping at the bit for more high-stakes, “what if you couldn’t lose” action, but that film had bigger places to go. And after all, the card-counting character was fictional.

So when director Robert Luketic (Legally Blonde) was handed 21 - a film based on the true story of six MIT students who win millions through a team card counting system - it seemed like he couldn’t lose. But even with an intriguing script and Kevin Spacey at his side, Luketic was clearly afraid to go for broke. His film continually plays it safe with average dialogue and common film techniques. The result? A rank and file gambling flick that definitely entertains but doesn’t quite dazzle.

Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess) has a gifted mind and has spent his whole life being a model student; he has perfect grades from MIT, a shoe-in science fair project, and has been accepted to Harvard medical school. But with graduation nearing, Ben finds himself with no real world experience and an unreachable $300,000 in impending tuition money. Enter Professor Mickey Rosa (Kevin Spacey), who notices Ben’s genius in class and offers a spot on a secret blackjack team he created. Using their quick computational skills to predict the remaining cards, Rosa shows his students how to win big. It’s all a rock-star lifestyle until Ben finds himself stuck in a dicey and dangerous world and must figure out how to get out before he loses it all.

In playing the nerd who finally discovers his own powers, Sturgess seems completely at home. His awkward, breathy delivery is reminiscent of Toby Maguire in Spider-Man; that slight lisp feels very real. Kevin Spacey is flawless again. Underneath the professorial veneer, his character is edgy and mysterious, and Spacey’s sultry tone would make anyone do whatever he told them to do. Not much can be said for the rest of the cast other than Lawrence Fishburne, who appears to be doing a Samuel L. Jackson impression as the rough-‘em-up security guard that threatens their operation.

One can’t expect too much twist out of the plot since it’s based on fact, so predictability becomes a problem at times. Perhaps it isn’t so much the events the events which are troubling, but the dialogue, as you can usually guess what line is coming next. Luckily, the selling point for 21 isn’t the character interaction; it’s the thrill of the gamble, the busts and the jackpots. This film offers enough surprise to keep most audiences’ heads in the game. Despite appearing cheap at times, 21 will still make you want to hit the strip.