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Movies / Upcoming / 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.

Runtime: 1 hr 38 mins

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

US Box Office: $35,063,732

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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1 - 4 of 6

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Reviews for The Number 23

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1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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A convoluted and rather dull affair.

Full Review Source: Dark Horizons | comment Comment
01/15/08
Garth Franklin
Garth Franklin
Dark Horizons
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

This thriller's biggest mistake is its belief that it's as clever and original as it is visually stylish.

Full Review Source: Sydney Morning Herald | comment Comment
04/27/07
George Palathingal
George Palathingal
Sydney Morning Herald
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Joel Schumacher does a chaotic job of turning this thriller into indigestible jelly %u2013 it wobbles formless for a while, finally settling into the shape of a duck

Full Review Source: Urban Cinefile | comment Comment
04/21/07
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile Critics
Urban Cinefile
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

Jim Carrey tries his best, but the film never gets psychologically creepy, never makes the viewer question what is fiction, what is reality, and most importantly what the number 23 is all about.

Full Review Source: The Scorecard Review | comment 1 Comment
03/03/08
Jeff Bayer
Jeff Bayer
The Scorecard Review

So much cascading hatred for the audience runs through the flickering images of this film!

Full Review Source: Antagony & Ecstasy | comment Comment
09/27/07
Tim Brayton
Tim Brayton
Antagony & Ecstasy

... the film astoundingly reaches new levels of unintentional self-parody with every turn.

Full Review Source: DVD Review | comment Comment
08/02/07
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
Felix Gonzalez Jr.
DVD Review

THE NUMBER 23 starts off promisingly but quickly devolves into an uneven mess.

Full Review Source: Murphy's Movie Reviews | comment Comment
07/14/07
Ted Murphy
Ted Murphy
Murphy's Movie Reviews

For all its gimmicky numerology, The Number 23 just doesn't add up.

Full Review Source: CNN.com | comment Comment
07/09/07
Tom Charity
Tom Charity
CNN.com

What could have been an intriguing psychological drama turns into a mediocre crime thriller.

Full Review Source: DVDTown.com | comment Comment
07/09/07
John J. Puccio
John J. Puccio
DVDTown.com

The Number 23 is Schumacher's first stab at a scary movie, the end result just doesn't quite add up.

Full Review Source: IGN Movies | comment Comment
06/25/07
Stax
Stax
IGN Movies

full review in Greek

Full Review Source: Movies for the Masses | comment Comment
04/18/07
Joseph Proimakis
Joseph Proimakis
Movies for the Masses

Sem conseguir convencer o espectador do básico (a onipresença do número 23), o roteiro chega a apelar para absurdos para tentar provar sua lógica tortuosa.

Full Review Source: Cinema em Cena | comment Comment
03/25/07
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

Good God, I actually liked this screwball of a mystery thriller.

Full Review Source: Reno News and Review | comment 1 Comment
03/24/07
Bob Grimm
Bob Grimm
Reno News and Review

...tombe dans pratiquement tous les pièges dans lesquels le genre se complait mollement depuis déjà plusieurs années

Full Review Source: Panorama | comment Comment
03/24/07
Jean-François Vandeuren
Jean-François Vandeuren
Panorama

While it's often fun watching Jim Carrey handle more serious material the same cannot always be said of director Joel Schumacher.

Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
03/17/07
David N. Butterworth
David N. Butterworth
rec.arts.movies.reviews

There's nothing to fear.

Full Review Source: Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia) | comment Comment
03/15/07
Mark Palermo
Mark Palermo
Coast (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Pretty much every important date in history...can be teased to fit the pattern. What can't be hammered out of this fixation, apparently, is a coherent movie.

Full Review Source: Film.com | comment Comment
03/13/07
Jonathan F. Richards
Jonathan F. Richards
Film.com

Schumacher is as much to blame for this mess as Carrey is. Over and over again, he mistakes looming shadows and manic outbursts for tension, and his ponderous, ham-fisted directorial style creates more questions than it answers.

Full Review Source: Austin Chronicle | comment Comment
03/10/07
Josh Rosenblatt
Josh Rosenblatt
Austin Chronicle
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by date; Australian critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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