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Amazon.co.uk Review
Jim Carrey as a schizophrenic murderer isn't convincing, in this melodramatic film about a man obsessed by the Number 23. Joel Schumacher (Batman Forever, St. Elmo's Fire) has unintentionally managed to make a comedy of horrors that really is quite humorous in parts. Walter Sparrow (Carrey) becomes engrossed in a homespun novel about Detective Fingerling, whose life degrades into mayhem because of his obsession with 23's esoteric numerical puzzles. Sparrow's preoccupation with the book follows his botched attempt to catch a nasty dog that bites him, leading one to believe that Sparrow's contraction of rabies might be the cause for his mental degradation. As the story progresses, Sparrow retreats further into Fingerling's world, rife with suicidal sexpots and hardboiled detective sleuthing. His wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen), also plays Fingerling's girlfriend, sex-crazed Fabrizia, who taunts Fingerling until he stabs her. Back in reality, Walter aims to solve the unresolved crimes in the book, taking it as a murderer's diary rather than as an imagined work. The story is half-baked, though Carrey's portrayal of a mentally disturbed person is what makes The Number 23 comedic. Long, contemplative stares, and over-dramatized acting renders Sparrow a clichéd character, rather than one odd enough to engage viewers. For a better version of almost the exact plot but with a terrorist's twist, see Thr3e instead. --Trinie Dalton
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
31 of 34 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
I have to admit, my expectation's were pretty low for this flick.The reviews have been pretty scathing, and as it's director was Joel Schumacher, who brought us the pretty lamentable 'Batman And Robin' and '8mm', I really had my reservations. Well what a surprise, 'The Number 23' turned out to be quite an engaging thriller with a pretty smart script.
Jim Carey stars as Walter Sparrow, who on his birthday is bought a book which soon takes over his life ,as becomes obsessed by the similarities the number 23 encompasses.Carey is an actor I have a lot of time for, not only in comedy but time and time again in more 'demanding' roles such as 'Man On The Moon', 'The Truman Show' and 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind'.Here again he holds his own with fine support from Virginia Madsen as his wife and Logan Lerman as their son Robin.
The twist is very clever and fairly believable and rounds of what was a very decent and quite unfairly criticised film.
Jim Carey stars as Walter Sparrow, who on his birthday is bought a book which soon takes over his life ,as becomes obsessed by the similarities the number 23 encompasses.Carey is an actor I have a lot of time for, not only in comedy but time and time again in more 'demanding' roles such as 'Man On The Moon', 'The Truman Show' and 'Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind'.Here again he holds his own with fine support from Virginia Madsen as his wife and Logan Lerman as their son Robin.
The twist is very clever and fairly believable and rounds of what was a very decent and quite unfairly criticised film.
17 of 19 people found the following review helpful
Format:DVD
Jim Carrey plays Walter Sparrow, a man whose surburban wife-'n'-teenage-kid life begins to unravel when he comes into contact with a mysterious book which carries the title of the film: Number 23. The tatty, self-published novel triggers a feverish numerological obsession in Sparrow, who begins to see associations with the number everywhere he looks. The more he reads, the more he becomes drawn into the gloomy, seedy world of the book's author, with whom Sparrow identifies heavily. Moreover, it becomes apparent that the book's author is not just an author of a disturbing book, but that he or she was involved in a grizzly crime.
The film culminates in a confusing whodunnit/goose-chase. I've seen the 'unexpected twist' of who the culprit is so many times in other recent films that I remember commenting on it before having seen Number 23. If that's a spoiler, then the film-making studios are to blame for overusing this particular trendy theme to a ludicrous degree. I can't imagine I'm the only one who thought "not again!"
I find numerology to be laughable nonsense, but moments in this film left me with genuine unease as Sparrow continued his downwards mental spiral in pursuit of the number. There are some splendid pieces of camera work and general cinema wizardry in this film, particularly the clever juxtapositions of Sparrow's bright and orderly life and the shadowy, grimy world that the book reveals to him. There is an element of style over substance in Number 23, though. It never grounds itself long enough to become, if not believable, than at least a world in which the viewer can become immersed.
Carrey has come a long way since his Mask and Ace Ventura days. He's successfully left behind the endless aping and gurning that put a lot of people off in his early days, without sacrificing the energy and screen presence that make his material infectiously watchable. Long may the man behind the Mask continue to develop and flourish. Although he might seem like an odd choice for a noirish film like this, his performance as the character increasingly tormented by the ever-present number is just the ticket.
Good for Carrey and visuals, but generally forgettable otherwise.
The film culminates in a confusing whodunnit/goose-chase. I've seen the 'unexpected twist' of who the culprit is so many times in other recent films that I remember commenting on it before having seen Number 23. If that's a spoiler, then the film-making studios are to blame for overusing this particular trendy theme to a ludicrous degree. I can't imagine I'm the only one who thought "not again!"
I find numerology to be laughable nonsense, but moments in this film left me with genuine unease as Sparrow continued his downwards mental spiral in pursuit of the number. There are some splendid pieces of camera work and general cinema wizardry in this film, particularly the clever juxtapositions of Sparrow's bright and orderly life and the shadowy, grimy world that the book reveals to him. There is an element of style over substance in Number 23, though. It never grounds itself long enough to become, if not believable, than at least a world in which the viewer can become immersed.
Carrey has come a long way since his Mask and Ace Ventura days. He's successfully left behind the endless aping and gurning that put a lot of people off in his early days, without sacrificing the energy and screen presence that make his material infectiously watchable. Long may the man behind the Mask continue to develop and flourish. Although he might seem like an odd choice for a noirish film like this, his performance as the character increasingly tormented by the ever-present number is just the ticket.
Good for Carrey and visuals, but generally forgettable otherwise.
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Probably won't: thrill you. Probably will: make you think about the 23 thing for a while
18 Mar 2010
Format:DVD
This 'thriller' started-off slowly, and at one point I briefly considered ejecting the DVD, not helped by Jim Carrey's performance. For, even though he's had non-comedic roles before, it was hard to forget that I was watching a usually-whacky comedy star desperately trying to tone things down, so much so that I couldn't really buy into his character.
In this particular serious role, Carrey was simply boring, his almost noir-style voiceover being so contrived that it became annoying. And it wasn't just because we, as viewers, are used to the higher-pitched, over-enthusiastic, silly behaviour that marks out his comedies. Indeed, if this was Carrey's usual acting persona he wouldn't get any work, because it was dull and totally uncharismatic; not because the character demanded that, but because he was trying too hard to play against type, portray seriousness and feign confusion/ schizophrenia.
Anyway, about the actual plot, things shift up a notch when the lead becomes interested in the subject of a book randomly bought for him by his wife. Time goes by and he becomes increasingly obsessed with the number 23, but things only really get going towards the end when you get a 'twist', something many reviewers apparently saw coming (but I'm glad to say that I didn't). Still, I was hoping for one *final* twist at the end, one where perhaps his son got killed trying to save him or something. Instead, we get a "happy ending" (of sorts), which doesn't really fit the style of the film.
That said, the use of the word 'happy' in relation to this film is contradictory, because it's dark, depressing, weird and a bit too arty for its own good to be perfectly frank. Not a terrible film, but be warned that you may get bored and/ or confused. And although there's some tension, I can't imagine that you'll feel thrilled by the end of it. The Number 23 is a renter at best.
In this particular serious role, Carrey was simply boring, his almost noir-style voiceover being so contrived that it became annoying. And it wasn't just because we, as viewers, are used to the higher-pitched, over-enthusiastic, silly behaviour that marks out his comedies. Indeed, if this was Carrey's usual acting persona he wouldn't get any work, because it was dull and totally uncharismatic; not because the character demanded that, but because he was trying too hard to play against type, portray seriousness and feign confusion/ schizophrenia.
Anyway, about the actual plot, things shift up a notch when the lead becomes interested in the subject of a book randomly bought for him by his wife. Time goes by and he becomes increasingly obsessed with the number 23, but things only really get going towards the end when you get a 'twist', something many reviewers apparently saw coming (but I'm glad to say that I didn't). Still, I was hoping for one *final* twist at the end, one where perhaps his son got killed trying to save him or something. Instead, we get a "happy ending" (of sorts), which doesn't really fit the style of the film.
That said, the use of the word 'happy' in relation to this film is contradictory, because it's dark, depressing, weird and a bit too arty for its own good to be perfectly frank. Not a terrible film, but be warned that you may get bored and/ or confused. And although there's some tension, I can't imagine that you'll feel thrilled by the end of it. The Number 23 is a renter at best.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Nice reveal!
Had no idea how it was going to end, great suspense and journey to the reveal....
Well worth watching. Nice to see Carey can be more versatile in role.
Well worth watching. Nice to see Carey can be more versatile in role.
Published 4 months ago by Buddie's Mom
Not for me
I'd read all of the bad reviews, but I figured I'd give it a try. I like Jim Carrey as an actor (as much for his "serious" roles as for his comedy efforts) and the concept sounded... Read more
Published 6 months ago by Mr. S. A. Brown
Slightly above average thriller
I can't take Jim Carrey seriously. He does look like quite a normal bloke in this film, which is surprising because he is cast as a killer! Read more
Published 11 months ago by Jackiesmackie
edge of my seat
This is an awesome film some of Jim careys best keeps you in suspense throughout all with a interesting twist
Published 13 months ago by Joebedo
Surprisingly tolerable
"Number 23" is a thriller starring Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen.
The plot revolves around a certain Walter Sparrow, who finds out that a novel his wife has given him... Read more
The plot revolves around a certain Walter Sparrow, who finds out that a novel his wife has given him... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Ashtar Command
Interesting but uneven - Carey struggles to play it straight
This film was clearly done at a time when Carey was still getting used to not playing it for laughs. Read more
Published 20 months ago by Benminx
A very silly movie!
I was hoping for good things from this movie. I very much enjoyed Jim Carrey in his more serious movies: The Truman Show and Spotless Mind and was hoping for more. Read more
Published 21 months ago by shaumbra
fab film
This is a great film, was a bit worried when i ordered it as im use to jim carrey doing funny, but he does this thriller wonderfully.
Published on 5 May 2010 by Amy-Louise Geeson
So-so film ruined by Amazon review!
Not a great film. The directing seems somehow off. Reasonably okay to watch, though.
What made it much worse was the fact that Amazon's main review, by Trinie Dalton,... Read more
What made it much worse was the fact that Amazon's main review, by Trinie Dalton,... Read more
Published on 1 Oct 2009 by Jet
DARK DRAMA..................................
Walter Sparrow (Carrey) is given a book "The Number 23" by his wife and becomes obsessed with the number. Read more
Published on 8 Feb 2009 by L. Hay
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