23 Is The Loneliest Number
Written: Mar 04 '07
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Jim Carrey's brilliant performance, Schumacher's direction, and the intriguing subject matter.
Cons: It's very predictable and completely falls apart in the film's final few minutes.
The Bottom Line: Jim Carrey sells this movie completely, he is truly brilliant and almost terrifying. It's worth seeing just for him alone.
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| caligula79's Full Review: The Number 23 |
"The Number 23" is about as predictable as they come. Before even the first 23 minutes of the film are up, it is pretty easy to tell where the movie is going. But just like being able to tell when the dive is going to occur in a roller coaster, it is still a fun ride. Them movie held my attention even if the twist didn't feel like so much of a twist, but sort of like watching a comedy where a bunch of people are standing near a pool and you know that one of them is going to fall in. Being completely unsurprised by the film didn't detract at all about how I felt about it. The last 5 minutes of it, however, did.
In the last 5 minutes of "The Number 23," the movie could go either one of two ways. You'll see it when it happens. One way would have provided a much more depressing, and in my opinion superior, finale, while the other would just leave a nasty "after school special" like aftertaste in your mouth. Lets just say I feel like throwing up a little right now. I have a box of kleenex and a waste basket sitting near me as I write this review. Should the last few minutes of a film really distract me that much to where I would seriously ponder telling someone to stay the hell away from this movie? Since those last moments are the last images we take away from a film, then if it spits in your face, that's what you're going to remember.
Thinking about the movie some more and taking in every little piece, I will come to my conclusion that, yes, this is a film worth checking out. But beware that it will treat you like a high price call girl and shower you with gifts, before eventually burning a cigarette on your chest in the last scenes. I seriously hated those scenes that much. It's a very dark film, and by god, I wish it was a hell of a lot darker. I love Joel Schumacher thrillers, and I would have loved for this movie to have gone "8mm" dark. That's why it needed the ending that I sure as hell wanted.
At first, the movie is almost like 2 films in one. Jim Carrey plays Walter Sparrow, and while out on his birthday, his wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen) buys him a book called "The Number 23." Walter takes a keen interest in the book, because certain aspects of it seem to mirror parts of his own life. While he reads it, scenes from the book are recreated with Carrey and Madsen in the roles of the book's characters. For a while, these book scenes are more interesting than the parts of the film that take place in real life. They have a moody "Lost Highway" kinda feel to them, and I really dug the hell out of these scenes.
In the book, the main character is Fingerling (Carrey), a detective who happens upon a blonde woman who is on the verge of killing herself because of her obsession with the number 23. After she finally plunges off her balcony, Fingerling himself becomes drawn into the wild coincidences that come with the number. His lover is Fabrizia (Madsen), and as the book goes on, Fingerling is driven to murderous insanity towards Fabrizia and the man she appears to be having an affair with.
Back in real life, Walter is drawing the same conclusions about the number the same as the character in the book, and like that character, it is driving him completely insane. There's a lot more to the mystery than I could possibly even get into, but without giving a whole lot away, there is a murder in the book that appears to mimic an actual murder that happened in real life. Towards the end, a lot of time is spent trying to locate the author of the book, as he may be the killer who is still at large. By the time we do see who the author is, it's almost hard to believe that someone in that state could write a book so intricate and precise that you'd think it was from the same whacko who designed the apartment building in "Ghostbusters."
It's a very involving story, and Schumacher brings a lot of great dark imagery to the film, such as in some striking scenes like Fingerling playing a saxophone while covered in blood and the raw psycho sexual love scenes with he and Fabrizia; but the real carrier of this film is Carrey himself. He brings an odd sort of psychosis to this character and gives him his own little quirks that it's really hard to imagine another actor who could fill Walter Sparrow's shoes. I felt the same way about Johnny Depp's quirky performance in "Secret Window," a film which could easily be used as a double feature with "The Number 23." His transormation from a pretty fun guy to crazy paranoid to suicidal and even to what we see of the Fingerling character is truly work of a great actor. He delivers it without even a second guess from me.
If you sit down and think more about the movie, it contains so many coincidences that the planets would truly have to be lined for them to occur. Such as, what are the odds that these people would come across this book, comes to mind. Regardless, it's an entertaining flick, and if you want a smarter film revolving around numbers, then watch "Pi." If that's checked out at the video store, then this will do just fine.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
caligula79
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Member: Brad
Location: Long Beach, CA
Reviews written: 141
Trusted by: 21 members
About Me:
Reside in both Long Beach, California and Springfield, Illinois. I'm region-polar.
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