21 Quotes

[Ben learns who the Robinson Scholarship went to the previous year]
Bob Phillips: Ben, last year, the Robinson went to Hyum Jae Wook, a Korean immigrant who has only one leg.
Ben Campbell: Well, I have both my legs.
Bob Phillips: Well, have you considered cutting one of them off?
Bob Phillips: [Ben

remains quiet] That was a joke.

[Ben shows up to his new assistant job where his best friend Miles works]
Warren: Congratulations! How does $8 an hour sound?
Ben Campbell: Eight dollars? Wow! Wow. That's great, Warren. Thank you. Thank you.
Miles Connoly: [Ben's best friend asks him] You slept with him, didn't you?
Ben Campbell: Yes,

I did. Yes, I did.
Miles Connoly: Yes, you did! I'll sleep with him, too, and I'll get $8 an hour.

[Ben see's Jill waving at basketball practice and thinks she's waving at him]
Miles Connoly: [Ben and Miles see she's waving at the guy behind her] Oh, man. That's brutal. You know, you should just ask her out, man. It's not like she's a rocket scientist or anything. Oh, wait, she is.
Ben Campbell: Well, why don't you ask her?
Miles

Connoly: Because I'm already dating someone.
Cam: Yeah, your right hand doesn't count, Miles.
Miles Connoly: [Miles points his fingers to Cam] It does the way I use it. It does the way I use it.

[Ben is nervous when Micky introduces himself after turning in his paper]
Ben Campbell: Is there a problem with my paper?
Micky Rosa: Well, you found a more efficient method for finding true zero than Isaac Newton and that, my friend, is not so much a problem as it is a major ass-kicking. Although Newton has been dead for over 250 years, so it wasn't

exactly a fair fight.

[Micky quickly teaches Ben the rules of how to play Blackjack]
Micky Rosa: It's really simple, actually. You play against the dealer. Um, you're given two cards. Face cards are worth 10 points. The closest to 21 wins. If you go over, you lose. If the dealer goes over, they lose.
Fisher: It's the most popular card game in the world.

Jill Taylor: It's a game of memory. Cards drawn are the past, ones to come are the future.
Micky Rosa: And the best part, it's beatable.

[Ben does quick math at his job on two outfits for a man and his wife]
Husband: What's this gonna run us?
Ben Campbell: Oh, well, uh, let's see, the belt's $49.95, minus 15%. The jacket's $589,99. The pants, $285,99, minus 10% on both. Unfortunately, the shirt's not on sale, but I can knock off 5% from the $69,99. The shoes were just marked down from

$155, so you're looking at $1,042.68.
Ben Campbell: [the couple stare at Ben's adding abilities as he replies] I'm really good with numbers.
Husband: Yeah.
Wife: I guess so.

[Ben see's Jill at his place of work shopping for a tie]
Jill Taylor: [Jill holds one up to Ben] This one's nice.
Ben Campbell: Yeah. Oh, yeah. This one has actually been treated with our patented Nano-Tex fabric protection, you know, to repel all liquids and stains.
Jill Taylor: Well, that's really functional.

Ben Campbell: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, it's pretty functional.
Jill Taylor: [Jill wraps the tie around Ben's neck] Face me. Stay still.
Jill Taylor: [Jill whispers to Ben] Despite being tempted by the Nano-Tex repellant, I'm actually not here for a tie, Ben. I came to see you.

[Jill tells Ben a little history as to how she learned to play Blackjack]
Jill Taylor: Every night after dinner, my father and I would play. I knew basic strategy before I was, like, nine years old. If I won, he'd take me out for ice cream.
Ben Campbell: And what if he won?
Jill Taylor: [Jill smiles] He'd still take me out for

ice cream.
Ben Campbell: [Ben chuckles] Oh, yeah. Sure, yeah, he's your dad.

[Ben talks about how he learns to count cards]
Ben Campbell: [narrating] Plus 16. Sweet 16. Every card had a value. A high card, minus one. A low card, plus one. The rest, zero. I was studying all day, every day. But it wasn't physics, chemistry and engineering. I was back to simple math, used in ways I could never have imagined. The team had a system. And to go unnoticed,

we created a whole new language. Words were numbers, and numbers were words.

[Micky and the team of student card players teach Ben the positions of each team member]
Choi: So, our team is divided into two kinds of players, spotters and big players, right? So if you think that this table is the casino floor, then, um...
Choi: [Choi uses the salt and pepper shakers on their dinner table] Then salt and pepper shakers are your

spotters. All right, spotters are just sitting at the various Blackjack tables and they're betting the table minimum. They never fluctuate their bet.
Micky Rosa: That's right. Spotters never raise the bet or play any kind of progressive system. That's how we stay under the radar and that's why we never get caught.
Choi: Exactly. Okay, they're just

sitting at the table, betting the table min, and they're keeping the count waiting for one of these decks to get hot.
Kianna: Right. And then when one of the decks gets hot the spotter at the table signals in the big player. This... mustard. Give me the mustard, honey. Please.
Fisher: [Fisher positions the mustard on the table] Well, I'm always the

mustard, so... When I get the signal for the hot deck, I stumble over like some drunk rich kid, or some zoned out dot-com millionaire, and I throw down big money.

[the team tests Ben to see if he knows the signals to counting cards]
Kianna: Okay, what's this?
Ben Campbell: [Kianna holds her hands behind her back] Uh, the deck's hot.
Ben Campbell: [Choi scratches the corner of his eye] We need to talk.
Ben Campbell: [Fisher rubs his hand over his forehead] The

deck's cooling.
Ben Campbell: [Jill combs her hair behind her ear] And get out. Get out now.