current: 21 [50/100]

Very loosely based on the nonfiction book by Ben Mezrich about M.I.T. students counting cards in Vegas, this is one of those movies "inspired by" actual events. As Monday's post and lots of online message boards [www.imdb.com/title/tt0478087, for example] make clear, the filmmakers took extensive liberties in dressing this story up to fit generic Hollywood expectations. Almost stylish in places, and Jim Sturgess [Across the Universe] is imminently watchable, but the script is predictable and can't quite sustain its momentum. Mostly too bad because it seems as though a really cool movie could have been made from this material.