The Number 23

Review by Clint Morris

The Number 23 fixes on a man whose life totally revolves – he discovers – around, well, the number 23. If only the film based on the guy’s life could be condensed down to a 23-minute running time…we might have had something here.

Granted, the latest ‘Jim Carrey restrains himself from pulling funny faces’ effort isn’t all-bad it’s just that it’s a film that would’ve read much better on paper than it does when translated to film.

There’s a scene at the beginning of the film where Carrey's wife hands his character a book. He responds to her that he’d rather see the movie than have to read the book. If it were script for The Number 23 she were handing him, I’d say he’d made the wrong decision – because on paper, this thing would’ve read gold; as a movie, it's a bit of a headache to ingest.

The script would’ve read highly creative, very intense and been extremely captivating. Though, as any filmmaker could attest to, not all good scripts result in good movies. In the case of this one, Joel Schumacher (who worked with Carrey on Batman Forever; and at one stage nearly cast him in Phone Booth) was always going to have his work cut out for him – if only because it’s a story that doesn’t lend itself ‘easily’ to the art form…not without it coming off as ridiculous and acidic.

Carrey plays a bored dogcatcher, Walter, who lives with his devoted wife Agath (Virginia Madsen) and son Robin (Logan Lerman).

When Walter is given a type-bound copy of a book (The Number 23) on his birthday, he discovers the book’s elements correspond to what’s going on in his own life… and starts to get very paranoid. Suddenly, he starts to see the number ‘23’ everywhere. Thus begins his unravelling.

The Number 23 is a clever movie. It’s also quite intriguing. It's also very flawed. 

The film is way too sure of itself, when it shouldn’t be – because there’s plot holes and gaffes galore here (for a start, why would a guy only read a couple of pages a day of a book that he’s discovered is based on his life! Wouldn’t you skip straight to the end? How could he put the thing down?!) and a certain haughtiness that lets off a ‘this is going to work regardless of how much effort we, as a creative team, put in’ vibe. To be sucked into the premise we have to believe what’s going on on the screen – and Schumacher fails there.

Cockiness, Sloppiness and Sluggish pacing aside, there’s still reason to check out the film. Firstly, it’s another chance for Carrey to show he is more than a one-trick pony – and given the right vehicle, he could really knock our socks off one day. He’s not as good here as he was in, say, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but he’s still giving it his diverse best.

Secondly, the film looks good – Schumacher’s just as much of an interior decorator as he is as director… so it’s no surprise that the film looks gorgeous.

And thirdly, problems to the left, the storyline is still quite interesting… even if it is hard to swallow.

2.5 out of 5

The Number 23
Australian release: 26th April, 2007
Cast: Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen, Danny Huston, Rhona Mitra, Logan Lerman
Director: Joel Schumacher
Website: Click here.