Brilliant minds, devious plans, secret identities, high stakes and Las Vegas casinos. With these elements how can a movie to put down a losing hand?

It seems that Sony Pictures thought along these lines in the newly released movie, 21. Unfortunately, the movie fails to live up to its promising premise.

21, directed by Robert Luketic, follows the story of a mathematically gifted student named Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess). Upon graduation from MIT Ben plans to attend Harvard Medical School. There is only one problem: a whopping $300,000 for tuition.

Despite the collegiate price tag, Campbell is determined to attend Harvard. While fighting tears in an effort to win a full-ride scholarship, he tells an admissions officer that it has always been his dream to attend, perhaps the most unintentionally funny scene of the movie. The officer seems unimpressed and tells Ben to get some ?life experience.?

Feeling he is wasting his life as a complete loser, Campbell reluctantly takes up an invitation from Professor Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey) to join a secret card counting team.

After all, quitting a job, abandoning his friends, lying to his mother and hitting Vegas on the weekends is the wisest method to make cash, right?

So begins Campbell?s counting career. A brief montage occurs in which the basic principles of card counting are hurried through. This was a major disappointment to anybody who finds the math behind the counting interesting.

Armed with a “sure-fire” gambling technique, Campbell and the team hit Vegas. Here he experiences a life completely different from suburban Boston. Despite his repeated statements that the counting is only a way to pay for Harvard, a ?means to an end,? he soon becomes intoxicated with the luxuries and success he achieves at the blackjack table.

At this point the movie more or less takes the form of a shallow morality tale: the hero falls into greed and inevitably suffers the consequences. However, the film offers no lesson nor does it offer a set moral code.

Ironically, Campbell’s card counting technique is perfectly legal and may not be seen as unethical. Actions that should at least prickle his conscience, such as lying to his mother about receiving a scholarship for Harvard, never have any impact on him.

Thus the message that comes across is that legal actions may result in being beat up by a bulky, overly dramatized guard and immoral actions have no consequences. All in all, the points of the movie are that the house always wins and it is not wrong until you get caught.

When the movie shoves all these events and ideas unceremoniously under the title of ?life experience? I have to scratch my head and wonder if the movie has any underlying motive at all.

In addition to dubious morals, the predictable plot and one-dimensional characters result in a supremely average movie. The mediocre screenplay, with such gems as ?It felt like it was never going to end? uttered in a forced American accent by Sturgess, is about as entertaining as playing 52 card pickup.

For a movie that depends so much on numbers, 21 simply does not add up. It contains elements of a successful movie, but fails to put them together in an effective way.

Despite its shallow plot, 21 may even elicit a weary smile at times. The film may even coax out a thought on ethics – so long as the dazzling lights of Las Vegas do not numb the viewer’s brain. The bottom line: 21 is a thoroughly average movie that will slip through the memories of viewers and critics alike.

Any gambler would know that in order to win big, a large bet must be placed. 21 bets the table minimum and in risking nothing, gains nothing. Then again, what else can be expected in a movie that opens with the line ?Winner, winner chicken dinner??

21 is playing at most local theaters. It is rated PG-13 and contains scenes of Vegas nightlife, so viewer discretion is advised. For show times visit Fandango.