It's fair to wonder what kind of numbers drive him to set sail with sub-standard ships captained by deficient fools.
The Number 23 (2007)
Tomatometer
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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
Reviews for The Number 23
With material this contrived, it's easy to understand why Carrey seems lost and Schumacher works overtime laying on the design to distract you from the thinness of the story.
Not only does the film have no sense of story, it has little sense of itself, including a long postscript just to untangle the knots.
Carrey's unconvincing performance here turns it into his funniest film in years.
It's a 95-minute movie that takes 20 minutes to explain its 'shocking premise.' That's not a good ratio, it's kind of like a stripper agreeing to do a $5 lap dance to 'Bohemian Rhapsody.'
Eventually, the movie treats a number with so much reverence and fear that it seems someone will blame 23 for the fact that they forgot to turn off the oven.
I'm not much of a math student, but I can tell you what The Number 23 all adds up to: nothing.
If there's any real fun to be had at all with The Number 23, it's in post-op dismantling; so little of it, in retrospect, makes any sense.
Number 23 is a modest, well-executed film. Is it scary? Not exactly. But if you're willing to settle for mildly creepy, then you're in luck.
This is the sort of film where no one can say anything without someone else commenting: 'Thirty-two -- 23 reversed!' Yes, and what do you know? There are 23 letters in the phrase 'better luck next time, folks.'
You may have only 23 seconds to check out this review, so I'll sum things up quickly: This is another clever concept that sustains itself for about half a movie, then falls apart embarrassingly.
The 23rd letter of the alphabet is W, without which there would be no waffles, Wal-Mart and, that final word on all things tiresome and pretentious: whatever.
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