Ben Campbell is a young, highly intelligent student at M.I.T. who strives to succeed. Wanting a scholarship to transfer to Harvard School of Medicine to become a doctor, Ben learns that he cannot afford the $300,000 tuition as he comes from a poor, working-class background. But one evening, Ben is introduced by his unorthodox math professor to a small but secretive club of five students, Jill, Choi, Kianna, and Fisher, who are being trained by Professor Rosa to count cards at blackjack.
Editing
Slo-mo casino sequences that make math feel sexy
Production
Vegas glow vs. bleak Boston—wealth as literal lighting
Acting
Spacey chewing scenery as the worst professor ever
Director
Robert Luketic
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Based on the real MIT Blackjack Team—though the actual members were mostly Asian-American, not the predominantly white cast shown here. Hollywood gonna Hollywood.
This film rode the 2000s poker boom wave, releasing just as online gambling exploded and 'card counting as cool' peaked in pop culture before the 2008 crash made it all feel queasier.
US
