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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: R [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:Feb 23, 2007 Wide

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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Release:

Oct 20, 2009

[DVD Details]
 
 
  • (ENGLISH) A man becomes obsessed about a novel that features a character preoccupied by the number 23 and sees parallels between the book and his real life, but the book ends with a murder that has not happened yet.
  • (FRENCH) Le jour de son anniversaire, Walter Sparrow, brigadier de la société protectrice des animaux dans une petite ville, arrive en retard à son rendez-vous avec son épouse Agatha. Celle-ci l'attend dans une librairie de livres usagés, o¨ son regard s'est arrêté sur ½The Number 23+, un roman tout élimé qu'elle offre à son mari. + la lecture des premiers chapitres de l'ouvrage, Walter se découvre une parenté troublante avec le héros, un détective tourmenté par le nombre 23, sorte de clé de voûte de tous les mystères de l'existence. Un examen numérologique approfondi de sa propre vie plonge Walter dans le même délire obsessionnel, lequel croît au fil de sa lecture. Dans l'espoir de l'aider à retrouver ses esprits, Agatha et leur fils partent avec lui à la recherche du mystérieux auteur du roman.
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    Reviews for The Number 23

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    41 - 60 (sorted by date)
    Text View | |< << 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 >> >|
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    The film operates on a much broader scale than it has any business doing, thus the answers, when they are finally provided in the now-obligatory talky final ten minutes, are frustratingly bankrupt.

    Full Review Source: FromTheBalcony | comment Comment
    02/26/07
    Bill Clark
    Bill Clark
    FromTheBalcony

    There are any number of ways to scare audiences, but numerology isn't one of them, especially if nothing else in the movie adds up.

    Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
    02/26/07
    Thomas Delapa
    Thomas Delapa
    Boulder Weekly

    More entertaining than most of the movies nominated for an Oscar this year.

    Full Review Source: Three Movie Buffs | comment Comment
    02/26/07
    Scott Nash
    Scott Nash
    Three Movie Buffs

    There definitely is something to this whole 23 thing. I bet that if you circled the 23rd word in each paragraph of this review, you'd find a secret message.

    Full Review Source: Premiere Magazine | comment 1 Comment
    02/26/07
    Ethan Alter
    Ethan Alter
    Premiere Magazine

    I don't care what anybody else says. The acting was good and the script was complelling. So there!

    Full Review Source: Greenwich Village Gazette | comment Comment
    02/26/07
    Eric Lurio
    Eric Lurio
    Greenwich Village Gazette

    It's no longer thrilling or even campy. It's just embarrassing.

    Full Review Source: UGO | comment Comment
    02/26/07
    Brian Tallerico
    Brian Tallerico
    UGO

    I enjoyed it a lot. I haven't heard of anyone else who has.

    Full Review Source: Observer [UK] | comment Comment
    02/26/07
    Philip French
    Philip French
    Observer [UK]

    The answers to the story's questions are even sillier than the questions.

    Full Review Source: Independent on Sunday | comment Comment
    02/26/07
    Nicholas Barber
    Nicholas Barber
    Independent on Sunday

    Spookily, it must have been in about the 23rd minute that my spirits began to sink and I thought: “There’d better be an awfully clever pay-off at the end of this.” Well, there isn’t.

    Full Review Source: Sunday Times (UK) | comment Comment
    02/26/07
    Edward Porter
    Edward Porter
    Sunday Times (UK)

    Thanks to director Joel Schumacher, all of Carrey's shirts had nipples.

    Full Review Source: MovieJuice! | comment Comment
    02/25/07
    Mark Ramsey
    Mark Ramsey
    MovieJuice!

    This sophomoric psychological thriller might not be the best movie Jim Carrey ever made, but it certainly is his worst.

    Full Review Source: NewsBlaze | comment Comment
    02/25/07
    Kam Williams
    Kam Williams
    NewsBlaze

    My biggest complaint was how this story just completely fell apart in about 40 minutes. I wanted to feel sorry for Walter, but all I could do is shake my head and laugh.

    Full Review Source: 3BlackChicks Review | comment Comment
    02/25/07
    Kamal  'The Diva' Larsuel
    Kamal 'The Diva' Larsuel
    3BlackChicks Review

    Like a poorly designed house of cards, 23 tumbles when it becomes apparent that the weak premise sports an even weaker plot. Tack another disaster on to Schumacher's cinematic belt.

    Full Review Source: Palo Alto Weekly | comment Comment
    02/25/07
    Tyler Hanley
    Tyler Hanley
    Palo Alto Weekly

    it never does succeed in finding anything truly sinister about the number 23, except, of course, that it will always be associated with this flick

    Full Review Source: Killer Movie Reviews | comment Comment
    02/24/07
    Andrea Chase
    Andrea Chase
    Killer Movie Reviews

    Suicide Blonde's intensity, her fear, her too-white dress and room and lighting, her violent death: it's all a little much.

    Full Review Source: PopMatters | comment Comment
    02/24/07
    Cynthia Fuchs
    Cynthia Fuchs
    PopMatters

    One of the last lines uttered in The Number 23 is, 'It may not be the happiest of endings, but it's the right one'. Try the wrong one.

    Full Review Source: DustinPutman.com | comment Comment
    02/24/07
    Dustin Putman
    Dustin Putman
    DustinPutman.com

    ...it's as if debuting screenwriter Fernley Phillips was too lazy to even rip off second rate King.

    Full Review Source: rec.arts.movies.reviews | comment Comment
    02/24/07
    Laura Clifford
    Laura Clifford
    rec.arts.movies.reviews

    Much depends on mood, tone, and suspension of disbelief, but Schumacher never succeeds in making us buy into any of this. The result is a tough slog through some unpleasant territory that never makes sense or is tied together.

    Full Review Source: Denton Record Chronicle (TX) | comment 3 Comments
    02/24/07
    Boo Allen
    Boo Allen
    Denton Record Chronicle (TX)

    While bolstered by an intriguing premise, the thriller The Number 23 cops out for a slick, Hollywood-ized ending

    Full Review Source: Hollywood.com | comment Comment
    02/24/07
    Kit Bowen
    Kit Bowen
    Hollywood.com

    Watching Carrey babble gibberish about the sinister nature of 23 in scene after hyperventilating scene isn't any more fun or enlightening than listening to street-corner lunatics discourse on similar topics.

    Full Review Source: AV Club | comment Comment
    02/24/07
    Nathan Rabin
    Nathan Rabin
    AV Club
     
     
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