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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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1 - 4 of 6

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Reviews for The Number 23

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121 - 140 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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Schumacher's numerical nightmare is an anemic psychological thriller basking in contrivance...woefully muddled and lacking...the math doesn't quite add up.

Full Review Source: TheWorldJournal.com | comment Comment
02/23/07
Frank Ochieng
Frank Ochieng
TheWorldJournal.com

one of the funniest movies Carrey has made in years -- and, unfortunately, the laughs are mostly unintentional. ...piles contrivance on top of contrivance until it's impossible to take Walter's descent into paranoia seriously.

Full Review Source: Kalamazoo Gazette | comment Comment
02/23/07
James Sanford
James Sanford
Kalamazoo Gazette

The only baffling mystery here is why it was ever made in the first place.

Full Review Source: Worcester Telegram & Gazette | comment Comment
02/23/07
Daniel M. Kimmel
Daniel M. Kimmel
Worcester Telegram & Gazette

This review's opening sentence, the really dull, pointless one that you are reading at this very moment, is comprised of exactly 23 words.

Full Review Source: Slant Magazine | comment Comment
02/23/07
Nick Schager
Nick Schager
Slant Magazine

Though the holes were rather small, I had to count them all. Now we know how many holes it takes to fill The Number 23.

Full Review Source: Groucho Reviews | comment Comment
02/23/07
Peter Canavese
Peter Canavese
Groucho Reviews

I'll say this much for it: It's funnier than Norbit.

Full Review Source: EricDSnider.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
Eric D. Snider
Eric D. Snider
EricDSnider.com

It's so bad that it almost inadvertently becomes interesting, and the last twenty minutes take the viewer to impressive heights of inexplicable silliness.

Full Review Source: Film Blather | comment Comment
02/22/07
Eugene Novikov
Eugene Novikov
Film Blather

Laughable...We can only hope a sequel called The Number 46 doesn't get made.

Full Review Source: FulvueDrive-in.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
Chuck O'Leary
Chuck O'Leary
FulvueDrive-in.com

While The Number 23 is probably not destined for masterpiece status, it does what it sets out to do: entertain, and mess with your mind.

Full Review Source: Sci-Fi Weekly | comment Comment
02/22/07
Staci Layne Wilson
Staci Layne Wilson
Sci-Fi Weekly

While conspiracy theorists search for the ultimate meaning of the integer at the center of it, someone should have paid more attention to the words.

Full Review Source: eFilmCritic.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
Erik Childress
Erik Childress
eFilmCritic.com

Do yourself a favor and avoid spending the $23 it will cost to buy two tickets and some popcorn to see The Number 23

Full Review Source: WaffleMovies.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
Willie Waffle
Willie Waffle
WaffleMovies.com

It's a constipated thriller; a delusional pinch of misdirection and screenwriting runaround that should've been a bottle rocket to the brain, but instead suffocates in style and a lack of imagination.

Full Review Source: OhmyNews.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
Brian Orndorf
Brian Orndorf
OhmyNews.com

The project should have been 86ed.

Full Review Source: Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL) | comment Comment
02/22/07
Jeffrey Westhoff
Jeffrey Westhoff
Northwest Herald (Crystal Lake, IL)

Greater than the terror that Jim Carrey's character...feels in the course of The Number 23 may have been that which Carrey and his castmates felt midway through production as the glowering awfulness of this project began to dawn on them.

Full Review Source: Boxoffice Magazine | comment 1 Comment
02/22/07
Jay Antani
Jay Antani
Boxoffice Magazine

moments meant to instill fear either evoke boredom or, more often, the giggles

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
David Thomas
David Thomas
Filmcritic.com

There's little in this first script by Fernley Phillips but bloodless notions -- nothing that might qualify, by the light of day, as entertainment.

Full Review Source: Wall Street Journal | comment Comment
02/22/07
Joe Morgenstern
Joe Morgenstern
Wall Street Journal

Here's our homage to the film's tortured permutations of the numerals 2 and 3: 3 minus 2 equals 1. And there is only one reason to see this movie: You have absolutely nothing better to do.

Full Review Source: USA Today | comment Comment
02/22/07
Claudia Puig
Claudia Puig
USA Today

Not helping matters are the over-the-top moments so typical of director Joel Schumacher's oeuvre.

Full Review Source: E! Online | comment Comment
02/22/07
Dezhda Gaubert
Dezhda Gaubert
E! Online

If Jim Carrey is to prove himself in a dramatic role, he needs a less convoluted script.

Full Review Source: Compuserve | comment Comment
02/22/07
Harvey S. Karten
Harvey S. Karten
Compuserve

Let's cut to the chase: Movies don't get much more dunderheaded than Joel Schumacher's semi-psychological thriller The Number 23.

Full Review Source: Salon.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
Stephanie Zacharek
Stephanie Zacharek
Salon.com
 
 
121 - 140 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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