21
Columbia Pictures | Release Date: March 28, 2008 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
48
METASCORE
Mixed or average reviews based on 29 Critic Reviews
Positive:
6
Mixed:
21
Negative:
2
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
75
Rolling StonePeter Travers
21 drags itself to a climax that puts credulity in splints. So what? In a multiplex of dumb-luck hits, it's a kick to watch Spacey and a gifted young cast use smarts to deal audiences a winning hand. Read full review
75
Entertainment WeeklyOwen Gleiberman
The fun of 21 is the way that this sharp, hyperaware star in the making, his face as readable as a mood ring, pours us into an adrenalized cocktail of fear, desire, and mental buzz. Read full review
75
Philadelphia InquirerSteven Rea
21 makes for some slick escapist fantasy. Even if, and because, the fantasy has its roots in something real. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
Escapist moviegoers happy to live out a flashy fantasy get a brief comeuppance and still walk away from the table with a little something in their pockets. Read full review
70
VarietyJoe Leydon
Picture shrewdly shuffles together attractive young leads, cagey screen vets and a fantasy-fulfillment scenario in a slickly polished package that should appeal to anyone who's ever dreamed of beating the odds. Read full review
63
TV Guide MagazineMaitland McDonagh
A predictable moral tale enacted by blandly pretty young things who bear little resemblance to the average brainiac. Read full review
60
SalonAndrew O'Hehir
Spacey's engaging for a while in one of his patented double-edged, sharky roles. Read full review
60
EmpireOlly Richards
The Ocean’s Eleven: The College Years mood makes for a breezy good time, even if there is, like Vegas, precious little substance beneath the glitz. Read full review
58
Portland OregonianShawn Levy
21 isn't insultingly stupid. But there's a gap between what we're told about its characters and what we can see for ourselves, a gap that gets larger and more frustrating as the film goes on. Read full review
50
ReelViewsJames Berardinelli
21 doesn't spin a good enough yarn. Read full review
50
Chicago TribuneMichael Phillips
21 isn’t pretentious, exactly, but it’s damn close, and in trying to whip up a melodramatic morality tale the film becomes an increasingly flabby slog. Read full review
50
Seattle Post-IntelligencerSean Axmaker
A thoroughly ordinary drama of temptation, dubious redemption and easy revenge. Read full review
50
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick Groen
What a big cheat of a movie. Wanting to be everything to everybody – a tough gambling picture, a revenge-of-the-nerds fantasy, a Vegas caper flick, a sweet little romance, a simple morality tale – 21 is just a bet-hedger dealing from multiple decks, designed to leave you with an occasional tidbit to like but nothing at all to love. Read full review
50
USA TodayClaudia Puig
While not exactly a zero, 21 lags and fails to measure up dramatically. Read full review
50
Wall Street JournalJoanne Kaufman
Very little adds up in 21. Read full review
50
New York Daily NewsElizabeth Weitzman
The early scenes are flashy fun, and Sturgess (handsome Jude in "Across the Universe") makes a convincing math geek. But the requisite romance and Hollywood-style ending feel as fake as the air allegedly pumped into casinos to revive flagging players Read full review
50
New York PostLou Lumenick
A slick, shallow and thoroughly generic caper flick. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalle
A movie with an irresistible premise that ultimately collapses around the whole issue of motivation. Until it does, this is a thoroughly entertaining picture. Read full review
50
Christian Science MonitorPeter Rainer
The more moralistic 21 gets, the less enjoyable it is. Read full review
50
Los Angeles TimesKevin Crust
What might have been a complex story dealing with greed and high-stakes betrayal among the young intellectual elite in America's gaming playground is instead treated as a slick, glossy romp. Read full review
50
Miami HeraldConnie Ogle
Except for Spacey's talent, elements don't add up. Read full review
50
PremiereRyan Stewart
There are moments where Spacey and Bosworth have their fun in spite of the film -- they both adopt Southern "characters" as disguises at one point, which is a hoot -- but overall, 21 is a busted hand. Read full review
50
Chicago ReaderJ.R. Jones
No movie with Kevin Spacey as a heartless prick can be all bad, but this gambling thriller, based on Ben Mezrich's nonfiction book "Bringing Down the House," hasn't got much else going for it. Read full review
42
The A.V. ClubScott Tobias
Short of counting the cards out loud, these geniuses seem to do everything they can to get caught. Read full review
40
Austin ChronicleMarjorie Baumgarten
Spacey, whose Trigger Street Productions is one of the film's producers, digs into his role as the story's snarky mastermind and lure, yet it's all the kind of stuff we've seen him deliver in so many movies before. Read full review
40
Washington PostDesson Thomson
The story may be based on real events, but most of it feels patently false. Read full review
40
The New York TimesManohla Dargis
Greed is good and comes without a hint of conscience in 21, a feature-length bore about some smarty-pants who take Vegas for a ride. Read full review
38
Boston GlobeTy Burr
The movie's chief audience, consequently, will probably be gullible and young, responding to the cliches only because they haven't seen them before. They have a word in Vegas for these people: Suckers. Read full review
30
Village VoiceRobert Wilonsky
A movie that wastes a lot of time and money and really, REALLY shoulda stayed in Vegas. Read full review
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