Emma and Dexter are graduating from college, circa 1988. She’s hellbent on making a difference in the world, and he’s up for anything the world has to offer.  Glimpsing into the lives of these two opposites on Saint Swithin’s Day (July 15th) for the next 20 years, you get love, glory, despair, and happiness, not to mention sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. What you won’t get is a fulfilling experience.

Emma heads off to London, and immediately succeds in being a waitress at a Mexican restaurant.  Dex uses wads of the family cash to travel around, then settles in to a gig as a tv host/coke addict.  As Emma tries to pull herself up, Dex seems determined to drag himself down.  All the while they crash into each other at odd times, and we see them each year, sometimes together, sometimes far apart.  There’s chemistry between the two actors, but not enough to believably sustain a twenty years bittersweet lovefest between two characters so obviously different. It felt as if they were together simply because the script told them to be.

The best thing about One Day is the thing they don’t clue you in on during the trailer; this is not a “Happily Ever After” story, but a real look at how two people live their lives, glimpsing their success and failures and how they make the best decisions they can make for themselves at the time they’re making ‘em.  I’ll admit I was thinking this film was going to be just another “and then they realized they were in luuuuuurve” story, and I set my Brain Of Little Size to that end.  But as the movie unspools, viewers are taken off the beaten romantic path an toward a different, more honest story.  It’s a pity that One Day doesn’t do a better job of it.

The fault lies with the director, or perhaps the editor, in delivering such a choppy tale.  Emma and Dex are shown in fleeting glimpses, and the movie’s pace has a hurry-up-come-along feel that doesn’t suite the material.  If I’m going to be dragged down the street at top speed, at least give me a firm hand to hold on to.  But alas, though Anne Hathaway (The Devil Wears Prada) and Jim Sturgess (Across the Universe) give amazing performances, it’s hard to form a strong bond to these characters.  And that’s so desperately needed in a film that whizzes thorugh the same exact day for 20 years in under two hours.  As the story moves like scenery from a train window, Emma and Dex aren’t coming together, they’re pinballing through each other’s lives, and their differences stare out at you as the scenes go whizzing by.  It’s hard to see how these two maintained such a strong bond for so many years, because with the bits and pieces we’re shown it just seems like an embarrassing crush that’s gone on too long.

Director Lone Scherfig (An Education, Italian For Beginners) has done the romance thing before, and better.  And I can understand a director getting his or her hands on the original novel and thinking that it would make a terrific film.  In the 20 years Emma and Dex know each other, there’s friendship, love (for others and for each other), devastation and renewal.  What director wouldn’t love to hit all those notes?  Why Scherfig fizzles here I can’t imagine.  But it’s a shame.

As the credits rolled, I didn’t feel put through the wringer, or a spent after catharsis. I didn’t even feel like I was on a rush of endorphins. I felt hollow, and a bit cheated.  It wasn’t as if 20 years wasn’t enough, but that the minutes witnessed aren’t the ones that made their story worth telling.

Winner Winner, Chicken Dinner!

If you ever walk through a casino or sit at a blackjack table, you may just want to be hearing those four strange, yet exciting words. It just maybe your lucky night to win at a hand of blackjack.

21 boasts a cast with the likes of Kevin Spacey playing Mickey Rosa, the ex-player turned teacher/mentor. The new up and comer of Jim Sturgess (from Across the Universe fame). The ever so gorgeous Kate Bosworth who brings to life a girl you want to root for in Jill Taylor. And how can you forget the casino security, Cole Williams, played by Morpheus or better known as Laurence Fishburne.

This film delivers!

In 21, a team of card counters from MIT, whose weekend romps to Vegas to make money at blackjack, begins to attract a little attention after a new addition to the team.  Surrounded by big money, melodrama, some punch lines and of course the all to flashy lights of Vegas, what more can you ask for in a movie?

The film follows Ben Campbell who goes from being a nobody in Boston, to a somebody in Vegas over night. The high roller story of many a Hollywood story has been sprinkled throughout the film. Ben is a young naive student who needs cash to go to Harvard Med and doesn’t think he will win the once in a lifetime scholarship. With the always beautiful girl in pursuit we are along for the ride in a rags to riches and back to rags story.

Ben is the stereotypical shy, geeky kid with loser friends who happens to be one of the brightest minds in MIT unbeknown to him. In a everyday class at MIT of “Linear something or other”, Mickey Rosa comes face to face with the brilliant mind of Ben. The in class example of a game show was given of the host asking which of the three doors has the new car behind it. Ben promptly picks door number 1, as Mickey points to the chalk board and pulls down door number three to show nothing, Campbell’s mind kicks into high gear. Rosa takes notice visibly and the movie takes shape.

This classroom encounter eventually leads to a late night invite to a room in the back halls of MIT. Once in the room Ben is met with a familiar face in Mickey and Jill Taylor (the girl who is just out of reach of his secret crush) along with a few fresh faces. They are sitting at a mock blackjack table learning the simple math behind counting cards. The conversation ensues and Ben leaves with a fear of whats to come.

We are led through a myriad of scenes where Ben accepts, earns and then is tested in his new found skill of counting cards. All leading up to his first visit to Vegas. And what a trip it was.

The Cinematography was excellent in this film. The film captures the energy and excitement of Vegas all the while bringing us back to the snowy campus of MIT in Boston to ruin the fun. The lights and action are captured well in the faces of the actors along with a great soundtrack to lead us from place to place.

The writing team of Peter Steinfield and Allan Loeb have brought the adaptation of Ben Mezrich’s top selling book “Bringing Down the House: The Inside Story of Six M.I.T. Students Who Took Vegas for Millions” to the big screen. And they have done a pretty solid job.

On the whole, the film is a crowd pleaser with a great cast,  solid performances and believable characters. My only complaint was the length of the film. It was just under two hours and seemed to drag towards the end. The ups and downs of the film really made for slow transitions towards the end leading up to the climax.

I would recommend this film to friends without a doubt.

Rating: ☆☆☆☆☆