Variety‘s Joe Leydon likes Robert Luketic‘s 21…great. But after his slightly-too-affectionate Semi-Pro review that ran on 2.28, I don’t know. I’m still smarting from that. I feel a little more comfortable with reviewers who err on the side of hostility, or at least snideness.

“A flashy fictionalization of an extraordinary true-life story about college kids who counted cards to win big in Las Vegas, [it’s] is a better-than-even-money bet to be an important player in the spring B.O. tournament,” Leydon says. “Pic shrewdly shuffles together attractive young leads (Jim Sturgess, Kate Bosworth, Aaron Yoo, Liza Lapira, etc.), cagey screen vets (Kevin Spacey, Lawrence Fishburne) and a fantasy-fulfillment scenario in a slickly polished package that should appeal to anyone who’s ever dreamed of beating the odds.
“Only the lack of some truly megawatt star power might hold the Sony release back from a massive, rather than just lucrative, payday,” Leydon writes.