Ever since I heard that Kevin Spacey intended to make a movie version of Ben Mezrich‘s book “Bringing Down the House,” I knew I would want to go see it. I really enjoyed the book (even though it is coming under fire for possible made up facts), love Vegas, and just thought it lent itself to film adaptation.

They needed about four years to get the film done, and we got to see “21” – they changed the name because of the Steve Martin/Queen Latifah comedy a few years ago – in the theater last night.

For the first hour or so, I really felt like I would head home disappointed. They really oversimplified what Mezrich wrote about and turned it into a fairly shallow story. Then, they threw in a twist that neither Maria or I saw coming, and everything worked out. I usually hate people who whine about spoilers, but I liked what they did so much, I’m going to leave it at that.

The movie does have plenty of action and fun with decent characters. I did have to hold myself back from complaining about small inconsistencies I found even though I have only visited twice, but most people wouldn’t notice that stuff. All in all, I liked the film.

I still think they did the book a disservice by leaving out some of the layers of what allegedly went on with the MIT Blackjack team. I say allegedly because Mezrich has really come under fire for basically making stuff up. It doesn’t seem as bad as some of the other non-fiction writers who have been busted mainly because he only exaggerated some points while much of the story is true. Still, it will make me look at the book a little closer when I read it again, something I am determined to do after seeing the movie.

I don’t really know how “21” will fare in “The Brians.” Any non-comedy has its work cut out for it, and I don’t know how much of this will rise to the top, especially with “Forgetting Sarah Marshall” next on our list of movies to see. I’d bet on that taking front-runner status pretty quickly.