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Making millions becomes a simple matter of how high you can count in 21, the true story of six math geeks who treat Las Vegas like a big, neon-lit ATM machine. Kevin Spacey features as the dissolute professor who recruits the brightest minds at MIT to count cards for guaranteed profit. Only human error can break the winning streak and, like the cocky students, director Robert Luketic occasionally gets carried away by the action. Still, this is worth a look.

English actor Jim Sturgess (Across The Universe) leads the way as timid math whiz Ben Campbell. He immediately stands out in a class taught by statistician Mickey Rosa (Spacey), but when Rosa offers him the chance to win untold riches in the game of blackjack, Campbell declines on principle. It's only with gentle cajoling by a pretty blonde number cruncher (Kate Bosworth) and the steeply-rising price of college education, that Rosa finally gets the kid on board. And soon enough, all that high-rolling begins to turn his head.

"AN UNDENIABLE FEEL-GOOD FACTOR"

Liberties have been taken with the non-fiction book Bringing Down The House by Ben Mezrich, and it's easy to spot the add-ons. Campbell's romance with the hottest girl on campus feels disingenuous, as does an overcooked subplot where Laurence Fishburne - as a grumpy security expert - aims to settle an old score with the arrogant professor. Amidst all that, Sturgess quietly sparkles as the born loser who struggles to adapt to life on winners' row. Luketic plays up the glamour and there's an undeniable feel-good factor to seeing these social misfits being treated like rock stars. It's just a shame that we don't get to delve as much into the lives of all six students - their teamwork on the gaming floor is intriguing to behold. Luketic shoots the action at the tables with the requisite flashiness, boldly defying the laws of probability to make mathematics sexy.

21 is out in the UK on 11th April 2008.