Not half bad

Rating: 6/10 (25 August 2007)

Just got done watching the Number 23... Ever since I heard the premise I was dying to see it, abstract ideas like this really get me thinking and on that level Number 23 doesn't disappoint...
The movie opens by making you feel for Sparrow (Carrey) by showing you his somewhat boring life and highlighting his relationship with his family, which is really important... Slowly the warm and fuzzy feeling dissipates... Sparrow's wife Agatha buys him a book for his birthday, a book called The Number 23, and immediately Sparrow begins jumping to conclusions, drawing parallels, and computing nearly every number or word he comes in contact with, somehow they all come out to 23... Sparrow seems to be losing his sanity, but then switches into "detective" mode to find the author of the book who, according to Sparrow, is a murderer...
The movie contains a twist or two but they really aren't that great, though there is a period of ambiguity when you're on the edge of your seat wondering "WHO WROTE THE BOOK!" and its not guaranteed you'll be right as there are quite a few characters to chose from...
The movie left me with questions, they never address whether Agatha knew what she was getting into when she bought the book or if she stumbled upon it by chance... as for the ending it wasn't the "out with a bang" some were perhaps expecting, but thats better as far as I'm concerned, and the movie cuts off leaving you with a mystery, room for the imagination to play...
It's an intriguing movie, not without its flaws, but in a Hollywood world obsessed with crappy remakes and CGI its good to see a smart, suspenseful, and truly original movie like this...