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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

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Reviews for The Number 23

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141 - 160 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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It's fair to wonder what kind of numbers drive him to set sail with sub-standard ships captained by deficient fools.

Full Review Source: Film Freak Central | comment Comment
02/22/07
Walter Chaw
Walter Chaw
Film Freak Central

An unengaging and colossally dumb occult thriller.

Full Review Source: Seattle Post-Intelligencer | comment Comment
02/22/07
William Arnold
William Arnold
Seattle Post-Intelligencer

Carrey has never looked so uncomfortable on-screen.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Times | comment Comment
02/22/07
Kevin Crust
Kevin Crust
Los Angeles Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Doing arithmetic helps distract you from how stupid the plot is.

Full Review Source: Las Vegas Weekly | comment Comment
02/22/07
Josh Bell
Josh Bell
Las Vegas Weekly

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.

Full Review Source: Los Angeles Daily News | comment Comment
02/22/07
Glenn Whipp
Glenn Whipp
Los Angeles Daily News

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.

Full Review Source: Arizona Republic | comment Comment
02/22/07
Bill Muller
Bill Muller
Arizona Republic

The Number 23 plays a bit too much like Memento for Dummies.

Full Review Source: Orlando Sentinel | comment Comment
02/22/07
Roger Moore
Roger Moore
Orlando Sentinel

It's so cheesy that it's almost transcendent.

Full Review Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune | comment Comment
02/22/07
Colin Covert
Colin Covert
Minneapolis Star Tribune

Carrey's unconvincing performance here turns it into his funniest film in years.

Full Review Source: Deseret News, Salt Lake City | comment Comment
02/22/07
Jeff Vice
Jeff Vice
Deseret News, Salt Lake City

It makes you want to cover your eyes and clutch your ears.

Full Review Source: Christian Science Monitor | comment Comment
02/22/07
Peter Rainer
Peter Rainer
Christian Science Monitor

A numerological, super-dumb-ological thriller.

Full Review Source: Philadelphia Inquirer | comment Comment
02/22/07
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Philadelphia Inquirer

As Sam Goldwyn said: Include me out.

Full Review Source: Washington Post | comment Comment
02/22/07
Stephen Hunter
Stephen Hunter
Washington Post

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.'

Full Review Source: Richmond.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
Mike Ward
Mike Ward
Richmond.com

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.

Full Review Source: Metromix.com | comment Comment
02/22/07
Matt Pais
Matt Pais
Metromix.com

I'm not much of a math student, but I can tell you what The Number 23 all adds up to: nothing.

Full Review Source: Miami Herald | comment Comment
02/22/07
Connie Ogle
Connie Ogle
Miami Herald

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.

Full Review Source: San Diego Union-Tribune | comment Comment
02/22/07
Arthur Salm
Arthur Salm
San Diego Union-Tribune

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.

Full Review Source: St. Paul Pioneer Press | comment Comment
02/22/07
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
Chris Hewitt (St. Paul)
St. Paul Pioneer Press

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.'

Full Review Source: Chicago Tribune | comment Comment
02/22/07
Michael Phillips
Michael Phillips
Chicago Tribune

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.

Full Review Source: Charlotte Observer | comment Comment
02/22/07
Lawrence Toppman
Lawrence Toppman
Charlotte Observer

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.

Full Review Source: Newsday | comment Comment
02/22/07
Jan Stuart
Jan Stuart
Newsday
 
 
141 - 160 (sorted by date; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
all

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