The breezy heist caper has been a staple of cinema for a long time, and the subgenre can typically be relied on to draw in a crowd, even if the reviews turn out to be less than stellar.
Watching an ensemble cast of disparate characters band together to execute a seemingly impossible plan is straightforward escapism, and the surprising success of 2008’s 21 on Netflix this weekend is further evidence that high-end robberies captured on celluloid are never going to go out of fashion.
As per FlixPatrol, Robert Luketic’s twisting tale has jumped a huge 79 places on the viewership charts overnight, and it’s equal parts ironically and fittingly the 21st most-watched title on the platform. However, the film came burdened with some controversy, and it had nothing to do with the presence of Hollywood exile Kevin Spacey in a featured role.
The story centers on Jim Sturgess’ genius-level MIT student, who buddies up with his peers to earn the cash required to pay for those hefty tuition fees by utilizing their penchant for problem-solving to win a series of high-stakes card games, under the tutelage of Spacey’s maverick professor.
The controversy came from the fact that the adaptation of 2003 book Bringing Down the House (which was inspired by real events) was hit with whitewashing accusations, when the majority of the subjects who factored into the source material were of Asian descent, with one of the producers even publicly addressing the issue.
It didn’t hamper 21‘s box office prospects in the slightest, though, after it went on to earn close to $160 million on a $35 million budget, despite a mediocre response from critics.
