The Number 23 (2007)

Jim Carrey as a schizophrenic murderer isn't convincing, in this melodramatic film about a man obsessed by the Number 23. Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever, St. Elmo's Fire) has unintentionally managed to make a comedy of horrors that really is quite humorous in parts. Walter Sparrow (Carrey) becomes engrossed in a homespun novel about Detective Fingerling, whose life degrades into mayhem because of his obsession with 23's esoteric numerical puzzles. Sparrow's preoccupation with the book follows his botched attempt to catch a nasty dog that bites him, leading one to believe that Sparrow's contraction of rabies might be the cause for his mental degradation. As the story progresses, Sparrow retreats further into Fingerling's world, rife with suicidal sexpots and hardboiled detective sleuthing. His wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen), also plays Fingerling's girlfriend, sex-crazed Fabrizia, who taunts Fingerling until he stabs her. Back in reality, Walter aims to solve the unresolved crimes in the book, taking it as a murderer's diary rather than as an imagined work. The story is half-baked, though Carrey's portrayal of a mentally disturbed person is what makes The Number 23 comedic. Long, contemplative stares, and over-dramatized acting renders Sparrow a clichéd character, rather than one odd enough to engage viewers. For a better version of almost the exact plot but with a terrorist's twist, see Thr3e instead. --Trinie Dalton Amazon.com

 Lost interest 23 minutes into the film
Taking a look at the concept behind The Number 23 left me curious which then led me to check it out. Unfortunately while watching my curiousity quickly disappeared as sheer bordem set in. This had to be one of the worst I have seen in a while. It was another unfortunate case of being so bad that it couldn't be salvaged even for laughs.

The story begins with dog catcher Walter Sparrow(Carrey) as he gets bit by a dog which leads him to be late from picking up his wife at her store in town. As she is waiting outside she stumbles into the bookstore next to her shop and begins to read a book titled "The Number 23." Once Carrey gets there she suggests that he picks up the book and read it himself. The book has a disclaimer which states if the reader has any similarities with the main character or any of the events that take place the they should no longer read the book. As Carrey starts reading he feels as if the book is about his life but chooses to read on. Sounds pretty cool right? Well it isn't. This is where the downward spiral begins and never looks back. As carrey becomes more and more obssesed with the book you will become more and more bored.

This one is a real waste of time. It really has nothing to offer except an extremely predictable story in which you could, change channels, watch something else for 20 mins, then turn it back on and feel as if you never left. Half way through they should have realized what a mess they were making and switched gears to make it into a good B movie. April 22, 2008

 just my opinion
i like jim carry's more dramatic work a lot . i own "the truman show" and "the majestic" and really liked "eternal sunshine of the spotless mind" . i feel this is a really good project . i liked it more the second time i saw it . virginia madsen selects good scary roles for herself "candyman" and non-scary "sideways" . she's a good actress and very pleasing to this eye . i think joel schumacher really does an excellent job with this material . the cast was good all the way around . i fell in love with jim through his comedies , but , the man can act . i think history will be very kind to this little chiller . check it out if you like jim and feel you can be objective . March 23, 2008

 para-nutso waste of time
If you ever needed a movie as an example about how NOT to make a psychological/ conspiracy theory type movie, the number 23 is definitely it. The pace of the movie is laboriously dreary and slower than a pull out of the troops in Iraq. The story is only mildly interesting which is very misleading thanks to the trailers. I was under the impression that the frequency of times that the number 23 comes up would be intvestigated in the movie with an answer or answers as to WHY (ala Davinci Code) but instead we're subjected to a paranoid man who only sees the number 23 everywhere. Oh and yeah, murders and ridiculous amounts of sex in a book that Carrey's character is convinced has been written specifically about his life. Turns out, the number 23 isn't even important after all, since Carrey's really just playing a sicko with an affinity for killing off people obsessed with...what else... the number 23. The end scenes where we discover that Carrey's our knife wielding nutter butter are done completely over, so we see scenes already acted out in the narration scenes as Carrey was reading the book, only now it's Carrey we see instead of the book's main character acting out the killings and lunacy, so we essentially see key scenes of the same movie twice, as if watching it ONCE wasn't bad enough. They could have easily done a snippet scene montage, which is the smart way to wrap up an already long seeming, slow moving sludgefest, yet the director seems to be taking pleasure in the fact that he's the boss and you just HAVE to watch the movie his way. If this film doesn't end Jim Carrey's acting career, as well as the careers of EVERYONE involved with the making of this film, then Hollywood really is the dumbest place for movies to be made. This movie deserves NO stars, just like the last really horrible garbagerie I wasted time on, Flightplan. Zero stars March 4, 2008

 A thinking man's movie
Truly dark and suspenseful, extremely well-written and acted. Makes you think. I highly recommend this movie. February 17, 2008

 Who killed who?
This is basically the old bait and switch trick with some elaborate number trappings thrown in. I gave it three stars because it is pretty entertaining, even though by the end of the movie it's all a big game that basically adds up to not a whole lot.

The bait and switch has to do with the questionable psychology of the main character, Walter Sparrow, played by Jim Carrey. While it's true that he does things here on screen he's never done before in any of his other movies--play saxophone and have graphic sex and do some violent stuff--the upshot of all this is pretty much, OK, yeah, I get that. So?

The mechanism/medium for the bait and switch is a book somebody wrote which has the same title as the movie itself. And of course our anti-hero comes into possession of the book. The chapters progress in the life of the book's main character, which Sparrow find similar to his own life.

The movie is no doubt meant to be innovative and creepy at the same time and doesn't really do either--because, unfortunately, "set-up" is essentially being broadcast throughout the entire course of the movie; we just KNOW there's a trick that's going to happen, and sure enough, it does, and then we have the inevitable letdown because even though we KNEW there was a trick, when it actually happens, it's kind of a drag.

The acting is slightly over the top, but in a movie like this, it kind of has to be, with Carrey, Virginia Madsen, and Danny Huston all partially mugging for the camera. So that makes it fun in a wacky, unintended, goofy cartoonish kind of way. We do kind of want to know what happens next because the mugging-like acting eggs us on--gee, what the heck really IS going on, anyway?

Yes, there is murder, and yes, there is some kind of thing about the number 23, but neither of those are the main point, if you want to call it that. The main point is our beloved Walter and all the wacky things he goes through in his life.

This is not a terrible movie. On the other hand, it's certainly not a great movie. It's one of those popcorn movies you see when you feel like watching a popcorn movie. But of course, that's what popcorn movies are for.

Aren't they? February 7, 2008

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