It never really got going - BIG Disappointment

Rating: 4/10 (28 February 2007)

Firstly, I like Jim Carrey. He's made some good films and its nice to see him getting involved in more serious work.
Secondly, the Number 23, historically, is a potent Number which has a lot of significance, some of which are highlighted in the opening credits.
So we have the ingredients for something interesting here, right! WRONG. very wrong.
The most interesting part was the opening credits and it went steadily downhill after that. Apart from some interesting scenes it just doesn't grip you at all. You wait for the entire movie for it to really get started and all the interesting stuff that was inferred to in the beginning just never happened.
Any allusion to the Number 23 in the film is false. It really is about one persons relationship with that number rather than any historical significance so in one fell swoop the film has rather fraudulently negated all the interesting historical stuff which came up in the opening credits. So we get a taster of what the film could have been about and then the rug is pulled away and we are left right up to the very end about one mans personal journey.
So from the perspective of storyline and acting then its a very shabby effort. In terms of the number 23 then shockingly poor and a big zero.
If it is an intellectual challenge, or significant historical, social, cultural insight or more, forget it. Your expectations are better served elsewhere.
If you just like Jim Carrey and want something semi interesting to fill in the gaps whilst going out on your first teen date then go for it.