The Number 23 (2007) July 31, 2007
Posted by gproject in : Recently Viewed , trackbackDirected by: Joel Schumacher
Jim Carrey has managed to forge some excellent performances out of serious (or at least semi-serious) roles in recent years. After emerging from an all-out comic background he has impressed in The Truman Show, Man on the Moon, and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. But here he turns his attentions to the psychological thriller, a new genre and a new challenge – ask an Ace Ventura-era Carrey where he would be in 10 years, and I don’t think even he would’ve guessed doing this.
The story centres on Walter Sparrow, a good-natured dogcatcher living an ordinary life with his wife and son. However, when Walter starts reading a mysterious book called The Number 23, he finds more than a few similarities between himself and the book’s main character, detective Fingerling. Quickly becoming obsessed by the number, Walter realises that his fate may be tied to that of the novel, in which Fingerling is driven to dementia and ultimately commits a murder. Walter decides to track down the author in an attempt to understand the story and free himself from its all-encompassing curse.
As narratives go, this one sets up its premise well, with an effective retelling of all the numerical consistencies surrounding the figure 23. Unfortunately, it quickly starts to fall apart as the ‘mystery’ gets deeper and by the end it really feels like the plot is just unspooling onto the floor under the desperate attempts to give the film a darkness and edge that it never really earns.
The script doesn’t come off well either, with characters obsessively speaking every event out-loud to make sure we’re still following what isn’t really that complex a plotline, while the remaining story is shoved in our face by a near-constant voiceover. The twists and turns in the tale are barely relevant at times, and some of them render other earlier sections of the film pointless – the actions of the mysterious dog, for example.
There are some interesting visual pieces though, as well as an attempt at film noir which, admittedly, doesn’t really work, playing out as merely a soft-focus differentiation from the main story. Still, director Joel Schumacher keeps the film on track and drops in some sly touches with the cinematography which help give this movie at least some semblance of style. The performances too, are fine, although I wonder how the cast weren’t cracking up trying to deliver some of the lines with a serious expression. I sometimes felt like Carrey may well be taking it all a bit too seriously (something I never thought I’d be able to say about him), and I hope that he doesn’t believe this is a serious thriller worthy of the genre.
All in all, it’s a bit of a mess really. Way too typical in its narrative, which is both a shame and slightly annoying given that the filmmakers had a good central premise on their hands – but when every plot point is this forced, you know something is wrong. Unfortunately, for all its style and effort the movie fails to create any form of suspense or lasting effect, which is what a good psychological thriller demands. What you’re left with neither thrills, nor taxes the brain in any real way.
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I thought the premise sounded good but after reading so many unfavourable reviews (just about everywhere) I can only decide to pass on Number 23. I too have thought that Carey’s turned in some brill performances in his more serious roles so I’m hoping this kind of kack doesn’t persuade him to go back to pulling silly faces for a living, as it would be a waste of talent.
Yeah, it’s infuriating when an interesting premise goes to waste but I, like you, read many terrible things regarding this movie during its US release. I’ve only heard one person say that they thought it was good, but even putting personal preference aside, they’re still wrong.
Carrey’s next project on the release slate is voicing Horton in ‘Horton Hears a Who’, an adaptation of the Dr. Seuss book. Plenty of scope for him to flex his comedic abilities there without inflicting all the facial antics upon us.