You can never beat the house, according to a saying in the gambling world. You cannot beat a perfectly oiled system that is willing to do anything in order to not lose. Unless you are prepared to have an equally perfectly oiled system of your own.

This is what it’s all about in “21,” the loose adaptation of “Bringing Down The House,” a novel about the true life story of six MIT students who won big at Blackjack.

Unfortunately, although “21” is fun to watch, it fails to deliver the real thrill of beating down the house, because it tries too hard to be all kind of things and to deliver a lesson to anyone who is watching.

The story’s plot is simple. Ben Campbell (Jim Sturgess), an MIT student in his senior year, has an ability with numbers (kind of similar with the one developed by the autistic brother from the heart-breaking “Rainman”).

Ben is facing a life-changing dilemma: in order to follow his dream and attend Harvard Medical School, he needs to come up with $350,000. But he is not ready to take the money of his widowed-mother.

One chance he has to get the money appears to be joining the club set up by Micky Rosa (Kevin Spacey), whose goal it is to develop a perfect system to gain big at the Blackjack game.

Ben is aware that this kind of illegal enterprise could be dangerous, but Micky has one more ace up his sleeve, the beautiful Jill (Kate Bosworth), a beautiful blonde that Ben would even hesitate to daydream about.

One thing I forgot to mention is that Ben, aside from his numerological ability, is rather a geeky type, hanging around with geek friends.

Under pressure to win the money and secretly falling in love with Jill, Ben will join the team, which comprises another three players Fisher (Jacob Pitts), Choi (Aaron Yoo) and Kianna (Liza Lapira).

The system created by Professor Rosa seems very simple and is a combination of constant observation and counting cards.

As I was saying, the house always wins and this is exactly what happens to Ben, whose fall is predictable from the very beginning of the film. It is easy to anticipate that the new status and the easily acquired money will confuse Ben and throw him off balance and that he will be consequently punished for his attempt to break not only the casino’s unwritten rules but also the rules established by Professor Micky Rosa.

The movie nevertheless fails to make us sympathetic to Ben’s story.

The choices he makes are not hard to understand but it all seems so superficial that you almost wish for him to fall prey to Cole Williams (Laurence Fishburne), who is paid to step in when someone tries to beat the house.

With a dark side insufficiently exploited by the movie plot, Cole Williams is maybe the most believable character of the movie and it’s a shame that his story and his role don’t get more time on screen.

As for Kevin Spacey, he is just a professional who is flawlessly playing the role of Micky Rosa, but his story (or better said the lack of it) is another shortcoming of the movie, as we fail to understand what motivates him to set up his gambling scheme. Does he want to prove something? Is he in just for the money or for the thrill to live dangerously?

“21” is a an enjoyable movie and the filming technique employed by Robert Luketic succeeds in transforming an activity like Blackjack, otherwise boring, in an adrenaline-driven adventure.

Overall, “21” is a movie to watch, but don’t expect to be blown away. It’s fun and entertaining, it could be this weekend’s box office champion, but unfortunately, it is easily forgettable.