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Movies / On DVD / The Number 23
The Number 23

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The Number 23 (2007)

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Reviews Counted:184

Fresh:15

Rotten:169

Average Rating:3.5/10

Consensus: Jim Carrey has been sharp in a number of non-comedic roles, but this lurid, overheated, and self-serious potboiler is not one of them. The Number 23 is clumsy, unengaging, and mostly confusing.

Rated: 15 [See Full Rating] for violence, disturbing images, sexuality and language

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

Genre: Mystery, Occult, Thriller, Murder, Theatrical Release, Fantasy Worlds

Theatrical Release:23-02-2007

Synopsis: In Joel Schumacher's psychological thriller THE NUMBER 23, Jim Carrey takes on another dramatic role. Carrey's character is similar to his roles in THE TRUMAN SHOW and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE... In Joel Schumacher's psychological thriller THE NUMBER 23, Jim Carrey takes on another dramatic role. Carrey's character is similar to his roles in THE TRUMAN SHOW and ETERNAL SUNSHINE OF THE SPOTLESS MIND: he portrays an average man thrust into quite extraordinary situations after a series of strange events cause him to question everything he's ever taken for granted. On his birthday, Walter Sparrow is given a mysterious and tattered book called THE NUMBER 23 by his loving wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen). As Walter reads the book, he quickly notices its alarming similarities to his own life. Rather than stop reading, he continues, unknowingly inviting the book to take over his life. The deeper Walter gets into the plot, the more he sees himself in its protagonist, Fingerling, whom we see through highly stylized sequences in which Carrey appears as the seedy detective character. Madsen is also present in these scenes, cast as Fingerling's pain-loving girlfriend Fabrizia. As Fingerling and Fabrizia's love affair inches towards its fiery conclusion, we learn the role the number 23 has played in their story and will play in Walter's future if he cannot keep his growing obsession with it at bay. While Carrey and Madsen are adept at playing a man gone mad and a headstrong wife in crisis, they are most fascinating as their dark counterparts, and Schumacher succeeds in creating a truly intoxicating noirish underworld of sex and death through those sequences. [More]

Starring: Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen, Logan Lerman, Danny Huston

Starring: Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen, Logan Lerman, Danny Huston, Lynn Collins, Rhona Mitra

Director: Joel Schumacher

Director: Joel Schumacher
Screenwriter: Fernley Phillips
Producer: Tripp Vinson, Beau Flynn
Studio: New Line Cinema

[See More Credits]

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    Exclusive Featurette: The 23 Enigma
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1 - 4 of 6

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Reviews for The Number 23

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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I enjoyed it a lot. I haven't heard of anyone else who has.

Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
02/26/07
Philip French
Philip French
Observer [UK]

The answers to the story's questions are even sillier than the questions.

Full Review Source: Independent on Sunday | comment Comment
02/26/07
Nicholas Barber
Nicholas Barber
Independent on Sunday

Spookily, it must have been in about the 23rd minute that my spirits began to sink and I thought: “There’d better be an awfully clever pay-off at the end of this.” Well, there isn’t.

Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
02/26/07
Edward Porter
Edward Porter
Sunday Times (UK)

Part detective story, part psychological drama, this is unsatisfying on both levels.

Full Review Source: This is London | comment Comment
02/23/07
Derek Malcolm
Derek Malcolm
This is London

While dozing through this nonsense you may wish to speculate on the number's real significance to this movie: possibly the IQ of its writer?

Full Review Source: Independent | comment Comment
02/23/07
Anthony Quinn
Anthony Quinn
Independent

This will undoubtedly appeal to fans of a conspiracy theory, but thrillseekers will be left feeling short-changed.

Full Review Source: Sun Online | comment Comment
02/23/07
Johnny Vaughan
Johnny Vaughan
Sun Online

Just imagine, if this movie was really good, it’d get five stars (2 + 3). Instead it gets a two. Which adds up to very little.

Full Review Source: Daily Mirror [UK] | comment Comment
02/23/07
David Edwards
David Edwards
Daily Mirror [UK]

Carrey tries hard to parlay his usual mad mugging into serious mad mugging, but Joel Schumacher isn't the director to get him there. Count Schumacher's films - 23 really is a bad number.

Full Review Source: Daily Telegraph | comment Comment
02/23/07
Tim Robey
Tim Robey
Daily Telegraph
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Mind-numbingly silly conspiracy thriller.

Full Review Source: Guardian [UK] | comment Comment
02/23/07
Peter Bradshaw
Peter Bradshaw
Guardian [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

A dopey numerical thriller that wants to be Se7en times three.

Full Review Source: BBC Radio Five Live | comment Comment
02/23/07
Mark Kermode
Mark Kermode
BBC Radio Five Live
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This is a film that doesn’t quite know what it is. Perhaps a mistake would be the fairest description.

Full Review Source: Times [UK] | comment Comment
02/23/07
Wendy Ide
Wendy Ide
Times [UK]
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Carrey gives the worst performance of his, or indeed any other actor's, career.

Full Review Source: Daily Mail [UK] | comment 1 Comment
02/23/07
Christopher Tookey
Christopher Tookey
Daily Mail [UK]

Carrey is effectively sinister, the visuals are often amazing, but there's less to this murky psycho-thriller than meets the eye.

Full Review Source: Channel 4 Film | comment Comment
02/23/07
Saxon Bullock
Saxon Bullock
Channel 4 Film
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

There's enough style, intrigue and plot twistiness in this thriller to keep us watching

Full Review Source: Shadows on the Wall | comment Comment
02/22/07
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

Patchy thriller that has the occasional lively moment but is mostly confusing, tedious nonsense.

Full Review Source: ViewLondon | comment Comment
02/22/07
Matthew Turner
Matthew Turner
ViewLondon

Genuinely intriguing in places and romps along at a satisfying pace for a conspiracy thriller.

Full Review Source: Empire Magazine | comment Comment
02/20/07
Simon Crook
Simon Crook
Empire Magazine
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Things don't really add up in The Number 23, but you can count on some queasy chills and trashy thrills all the same.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
02/20/07
Neil Smith
Neil Smith
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Schumacher keeps it pacy, the murky camerawork’s very cool, Carrey suitably wide-eyed, but its limitations are finally only too obvious.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
02/15/07
Trevor Johnston
Trevor Johnston
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Nothing to decipher here

Full Review Source: CinePassion | comment Comment
08/27/09
Fernando F. Croce
Fernando F. Croce
CinePassion

There is something to this 23 stuff, and a film about apophenia (obsession with random connections) would be fascinating. But no.

Full Review Source: Boston Phoenix | comment Comment
04/23/09
Peg Aloi
Peg Aloi
Boston Phoenix
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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