Cracked.com's take:

[mrcab]

Got this from someone who re-posted on IMDB; so I will do so here, as well.

From a July 9, 2008 article at cracked.com, by Jeff Kelly, entitled "7 Movies Based on a True Story (That Are Complete Bullshit)" Old news, but a funny read.

excerpt:

#6. 21


The Hollywood Version:
Ben Campbell is a math genius excelling at MIT, home to some of the brightest young minds on the planet as well as a really smart custodian. He catches the eye of Kevin Spacey, appearing in all of his "phoning it in" glory, who recruits young Ben for the MIT Blackjack Team. At first, it all seems harmless enough, as they play just to learn the age-old art of card counting.
Once they get good enough, Spacey whisks the team off to swingin' Las Vegas to give their new talent a try in a real world setting. Of course, things don't go quite as planned (typical), and after a severe beating at the hands of Cowboy Curtis, Ben learns some harsh lessons about life and love before tromping off to Harvard Medical School.

In reality ...
If there's anything we can learn from 21, it's that Hollywood won't give an Asian man a starring role unless it calls for someone who can do karate while getting berated by Chris Tucker.

In fact, 21 gives us perhaps the greatest whitewash in recent Hollywood history--a broad, sweeping stroke of Caucasian across the majority of the cast.

The real MIT Blackjack Team was almost totally Asian, but you'd never know that from the film. Even Kevin Spacey's character was based in part on an Asian professor, who has been known to dress like a woman in order to sneak into casinos. Apparently, a transvestite Asian math genius isn't as interesting as Spacey in the "just make sure the check clears" stage of his career.



But hey, at least they did cast a pair of Asians as members of the Blackjack Team. Naturally, in sticking with current Hollywood trends, they were made into goofy loser sidekick types, while the white kids handled all of the heavy intellectual lifting. Not since Mickey Rooney's performance in Breakfast at Tiffany's has Hollywood treated Asians with such respect and dignity.



*edit*

Two more links, as requested by lucky_starr17 and skemono

Near Misses: The 6 Worst Movies Hollywood Almost Made

5 Celebrity Careers Launched by Ethnic Makeovers