An intriguing and thought-provoking idea, but a very disappointing film overall

Rating: 6/10 (24 February 2007)

I was born on February 23. Right away, you can tell my interest in The Number 23, which just so happened to come out the same day. It did not look particularly good, but it was an intriguing idea and had Jim Carrey, who I have always been a big fan of. Sounded like an alright combination in retrospect, but less than stellar in reality.
Walter Sparrow (Carrey) is living a quiet life. He is a dog catcher, and on one fateful day, his birthday of all days, he is called in to grab a dog just before the end of his shift. He fails to get it, and as a result, is late to meet his wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen). When he finally gets to her, he finds that she wandered into a book store and began reading a book. Entitled "The Number 23", she finds in intriguing and buys it for him. Slowly afterwards, the book and its titular number begin to become more than just an obsession for Sparrow.
Casually moving back and forth between Sparrow's slow obsession and the characters in the book itself, Fingerling and Fabrizia (Carrey and Madsen again), the film sets out to accomplish a lot. But with on again, off again Joel Schumacher at the helm, someone had to know that the movie was in jeopardy from the moment it started.
While Sparrow's story is told rather simplistically, the novel's story is told in all sorts of formats. It tries to be noir in many instances, and tries to be overly stylish in others. Half the time, you are sitting attempting to get involved in the really silly and boringly narrated story (again, by Carrey), and the other half is spent squinting attempting to see what is going on on-screen. The majority of scenes in these sequences are either far too dark or far too bright to make out anything distinguishing. Yes, we can see Carrey, and we can see other characters, but anything else is a real chore. It relies far too much on CGI, and far too little on the set design itself. And it got really annoying seeing some of the camera angles and slick editing techniques done during these scenes. They glared of being overdone and glared even moreso of overcompensating.
Overcompensating for what you may ask. And the answer of course, is the story. Yes, it is intriguing, but the end really does not satisfy what the beginning sets out for. It wants to be a psychological thriller, but it does not dare to dig deep within Sparrow's head. It wants to be a guessing game, but it only offers a few guesses before giving away the answers. It reeks of leaching off older films that did similar things, but were done so much more clearly, concisely, and better. Watching this just makes me think Schumacher had no idea how he wanted his picture to end, or even how he wanted the middle to be. Fernley Phillips was only a first time screenwriter during the production phase, so his cuts and edits would have more than been legit. But of course, he failed to act, and therefore has set himself up a simple twisty thriller that could have been a lot more complicated.
What is the real core of the movie, and what will essentially be why it was ever popular at all, is the titular number. I spent countless minutes before, during and after watching the movie trying to find combinations of numbers that would equal out to 23, or just already pre-existing numbers to see if I could find it. I did more than a few times, but it more than frightened me when I actually did. I felt the fear, and the desperation of wanting to be rid of it. But of course, I am stuck with it, and even now I am questioning where I can find other 23's. In that respect, the film delivers high in its thought-provoking nature, and even higher in the fact that you do not need to see the movie in order to become obsessed with the number and idea of the film.
Carrey does not seem totally at ease in his part. Yes, he pulls out the stops and has pitch perfect emotions, but he looks bored. He has the scheming look on his face of "There really was nothing better?" for about ninety per cent of the film, and the other ten per cent is at random crazy or happy intervals. He just lacks the spark needed to really make the film zesty, and unfortunately, having to hold up the film on his shoulders, Carrey fails.
Madsen is not all too bad as the wife stuck in the middle of the broken down husband. She plays the role convincingly, but it really does not look like there was much more for her to do than what she does do. If her part was written with a lot more action, than she may have been able to help life Carrey's performance, and actually made it worthwhile to have do. Danny Huston does fairly well for himself on the other hand. He is deliciously evil in one scene, and very subtle in one scene. You know from the start that something is up with his character, and Huston does a great job in ensuring that the audience never quite places what. Unfortunately, the script does not say much of his greater aspirations for the film, and as a result, only contributes to its disappointing finale.
On the whole, the film is disappointing and not all that great. But for the sheer idea of becoming obsessed with a number more unlucky than that historical number 13, it is a worthwhile and decent watch. Just do not expect anything more than average at best.
6.5/10.