Two years ago, my library’s book group read Bringing Down The House: The Inside Story of Six MIT Students Who Took Vegas For Millions by Ben Mezrich. Mezrich tells the story of one of those students: how he joined the team of card counters – which is legal, but frowned upon – and entered a world of pseudonyms, disguises, casino back rooms and more money than he ever thought possible. The book was fascinating, describing the system used and how they made millions playing Blackjack in Las Vegas and Atlantic City before casino security caught onto their game (no pun intended). It flips back and forth between the mid-90s, following Kevin Lewis’s (a pseudonym) rise and fall as a card counter, and the present, as Mezrich interviews other card counters, security personnel and even strippers in an attempt to learn more about casino life.
During the book group meeting it came up that the Kevin Spacey movie 21 was based on Bringing Down the House, so I added it to my Netflix queue. 2 years later, after being skipped over for more current films, 21 finally made it to the top of the queue. 21, like any good movie based on a book, took the basics of the plot and then ran with it. However, Bringing Down the House is non-fiction, and 21 is obviously not. There are plot points that weren’t in the book, which I think were needed to help round out the story. Ninety minutes of trying not to get caught and stashing money wouldn’t make for a very good movie.
If numbers are your thing and you aren’t so much into the glitz and glamor of high-stakes gambling, then check out Bringing Down the House. If you like the Oceans Eleven movies or were a fan of the cheesy show Las Vegas (I mean cheesy in a good way – I never missed an episode!) and the workings of the card counting aren’t as interesting to you, then check out 21. But I can’t say that the movie is just the book on screen, because they’re really two different animals. And in this case, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Nancy was a Statistics major in college but would not be a good card counter. She writes about her 2 boys and life in Colorado at Life With My Boys.
Fun review Nancy.
My husband I watched 21 last year sometime. I didn’t realize it was based on a true story, but it was a fun movie.
I’m glad that you could enjoy both the book and the movie.
It was a fun movie! And probably not one I’d have rented had I not read the book, but I did enjoy it.
I read this book after my husband had picked it up at the bookstore a couple years ago. There was a good portion of time between reading the book and watching the movie for me, too, but I knew that even with my bad memory, the movie was telling its own story. “Based on” is a very loosely applied phrase a lot of time! 🙂
Yes, definitely! And that can be a good thing – following the exact plot of the book would not make a very good movie in this case.
I think my math-focused 12 year old son would be interested in the card counting aspect of the book, but there are obviously some aspects of casino life I would not want him exposed to. What do you think? Is this an adult book, or could a middle schoolers enjoy it too? Maybe I’ll get it and read it myself first.
That’s a tough call, Karla… I would read it yourself first. It was a while ago that I read it but I do recall there being some things that I’d not want a 12 year old reading. It’s a quick read though.