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3 stars***

When a book isn’t a film.

Bringing The House Down was a fascinating book from the pen of Ben Mezrich. It takes you through a four year period where a University professor builds a team of brilliant card counters who developed a system to win millions of dollars from top casinos. To those in the know, it’s advanced card counting. I didn’t know what that was before reading the book and I still couldn’t achieve it, at real life speed, so I won’t be getting my millions that way. The book mixes real life with fiction to create a thrilling read.

Now it’s a movie and it’s had a complete makeover. The film has a different name ‘21’, which refers to the target figures they’re after at the card table. Then there’s the story – it’s different in so many ways from the book, but at least the original writer is involved with the script along with two others, Peter Steinfield and Allan Loeb. Here’s the rub; why do we always expect the film to be exactly like the book?

Firstly, the book will take you between 4-12 straight hours to read; the movie can only last 90 to 120 minutes, so substantial cutting is essential. Secondly, some scenes that work well in books can’t work in films and vice versa. Third; you’ve already placed your version of the film in your mind after you’ve read the book so whatever the cast, crew and marketing do with the film, it won’t be the movie you expect. Accept that and move on.

21 is a good film, it’s highly entertaining and they make it quite believable. People behind me in the cinema were trying to count the cards on the screen.

You go with the flow and you hope they do get the money, but there’s always going to be an ‘oh-oh’ moment and that’s when the team fall out with their professor. Of course they would; he doesn’t do any of the work. So he double crosses his students and they double cross him. Who will win?

It’s always handy to put giant star Rihanna’s current hit in the film (which also begs the question which comes first?) and a massive Rolling Stones number, but the overall effect is a good quality movie, never boring; it maybe changes real life scenarios at the card tables to match the actors’ on screen needs, but it’s guaranteed to entertain – and that’s why we go to the cinema, isn’t it?