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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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Reviews for The Number 23

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101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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I'd give it 2.3 stars. But that would be generous.

Full Review Source: Milwaukee Journal Sentinel | comment Comment
02/23/07
Duane Dudek
Duane Dudek
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel

Visually stylish and dramatically moribund, The Number 23 is a half-baked idea posing as profundity.

Full Review Source: Kansas City Star | comment Comment
02/23/07
Robert W. Butler
Robert W. Butler
Kansas City Star

I'll give the filmmakers this: They had me calculating the instances 23 appears in my own life. Trust me, it helps pass the time until the closing credits.

Full Review Source: Jam! Movies | comment Comment
02/23/07
Kevin Williamson
Kevin Williamson
Jam! Movies

How do we loathe thee, The Number 23? Let us count the ways.

Full Review Source: Houston Chronicle | comment Comment
02/23/07
Bruce Westbrook
Bruce Westbrook
Houston Chronicle

If nothing else -- and, trust me, there ain't much else -- the title has a satisfying ring of candour. Yep, The Number 23 is all about the number 23.

Full Review Source: Globe and Mail | comment Comment
02/23/07
Rick Groen
Rick Groen
Globe and Mail

Charlie Chaplin did not star in The Wolfman. Jerry Lewis did not attempt Hamlet. Jonathan Winters never appeared in Death of a Salesman. Thank heavens.

Full Review Source: Detroit News | comment Comment
02/23/07
Tom Long
Tom Long
Detroit News

Director Joel Schumacher never knows when enough is enough.

Full Review Source: Detroit Free Press | comment Comment
02/23/07
Terry Lawson
Terry Lawson
Detroit Free Press

The major mistake Carrey made was agreeing to do the movie in the first place.

Full Review Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News | comment Comment
02/23/07
Robert Denerstein
Robert Denerstein
Denver Rocky Mountain News

Newcomer Fernley Phillips' screenplay eventually binds itself into too tight a knot. But it also has some admirable ambitions about family, responsibility, memory.

Full Review Source: Denver Post | comment Comment
02/23/07
Lisa Kennedy
Lisa Kennedy
Denver Post

A thriller like this needs to pack a lot of firepower on the backend. Unfortunately, all we get is a weak, much-anticipated little pop.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
02/23/07
Bill Zwecker
Bill Zwecker
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

The only fright in the nominal thriller The Number 23 is how shaggy, gaunt, and wiped out Jim Carrey looks.

Full Review Source: Boston Globe | comment Comment
02/23/07
Wesley Morris
Wesley Morris
Boston Globe

If I wanted to give director Joel Schumacher more credit than he deserves, I'd say that he purposely blew the film up at the 2/3 mark just to make the film a prophecy.

Full Review Source: 7M Pictures | comment Comment
02/23/07
Kevin Carr
Kevin Carr
7M Pictures

Carrey skillfully leads us on a twisted trek with hair-raising jolts.

Full Review Source: Maxim | comment Comment
02/23/07
Pete Hammond
Pete Hammond
Maxim

Carrey has difficulty playing inner torment without making it look funny, an issue magnified by...director Joel Schumacher's concessions to utilizing the actor's skills to get laughs.

Full Review Source: Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema | comment Comment
02/23/07
Mark Pfeiffer
Mark Pfeiffer
Reel Times: Reflections on Cinema

Trying to find something of interest for your mind to cling to as you watch this film is like trying to grab a fistful of windowpane.

Full Review Source: Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) | comment 1 Comment
02/23/07
John Beifuss
John Beifuss
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)

...ultimately undone by its thoroughly absurd premise...

Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews | comment Comment
02/23/07
David Nusair
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

The director, Joel Schumacher, works up a juicy, lurid atmosphere, but the picture feels cramped and airless. You wait for it to really take off, but it never seems able to find its way out of all the artfully claustrophobic rooms and corridors.

Full Review Source: MTV | comment Comment
02/23/07
Kurt Loder
Kurt Loder
MTV

Has mostly superficial thrills on its mind, playing with a number and a character's psychology but not really saying anything about them.

Full Review Source: ReelTalk Movie Reviews | comment Comment
02/23/07
Jeffrey Chen
Jeffrey Chen
ReelTalk Movie Reviews

The Number 23 tries to carry too many themes, fit into too many genres and tell too many stories. Its promise is drowned out by a din of themes, moods and storylines.

Full Review Source: Christianity Today | comment Comment
02/23/07
Todd Hertz
Todd Hertz
Christianity Today

The Number 23 is goofy, implausible, and funny in all the wrong ways.

Full Review Source: Film Threat | comment 1 Comment
02/23/07
Pete Vonder Haar
Pete Vonder Haar
Film Threat
 
 
101 - 120 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
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