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Maths geek Ben Campbell (Sturgess) is struggling to make the $300,000 required for Harvard Medical School.

His $8-an-hour job is going nowhere, but Ben's potential is spotted by his enjoyably corrupt tutor Micky Rosa (Spacey) who claims the fresh-faced student's brain "is like a goddamn Pentium chip”.

Rosa decides to open Ben’s eyes to a ‘legitimate’ alternative that he’s been running for years – a card-counting racket in Vegas.

Initially reluctant, Ben soon rejects the autumnal tranquillity of campus life for the allure of big bucks and the seductive persuasions of Jill Taylor (Bosworth).

Populated with the usual student stereotypes, including the liability and the campus beauty, under Spacey’s expert tuition the 'Numberwang' gang develop a sophisticated semaphore of hand gestures, plus language prompts and disguises to take on the gambling capital of the world.

Although the scam is legal it's inevitable their chips will fall – enter Laurence Fishburne as the foreboding eye in the sky. Injecting menace as old-school Vegas muscle, his is arguably the film’s best performance. Spacey and Sturgess are on good form.

Tim Evans