"The Number 23" (2007) - Movie Review

“The Number 23”, directed by Joel Schumacher is about a man who accidentally stumbles upon a book, makes him go obsessed with the number 23. The film stars Jim Carrey and Virginia Madsen. Joel Schumacher known to handle all genres very well, has chosen Mystery and Thriller.

Walter Sparrow played by Jim Carrey, who works at the Animal Control, narrates his story of events which made him to read the ill fated book. The book drives him to the edge when the number and the story in the book connect very much to him. His wife Agatha portrayed by Virginia Madsen, gets concerned over this obsession and goes for help. While Walter still continues his search towards a mystery of all these unimaginable coincidences. He starts getting nightmares and gets terribly worried whether he would hurt anyone. Does Walter find the solution for his questions or does he hurt someone due to a mere number? The rest is the story of how all comes to a place wherein audience should get the exclamation they got in “The Sixth Sense” as Joel Schumacher expects to happen.

The same execution of plot has been witnessed umpteen times and still great directors get the idea of portraying a little bit better than the best. The film definitely dives right into the plot without any unnecessary introduction. It is a nice employment of jumping into the story which does not comfortably irritate the audience. The nice aspect of the film is that it does not give the viewers the luxury of knowing the characters well. When I say that, it makes the events open for surprises. The characters can behave in an extremely haphazard way while the director can escape with the calculated avoidance of characterization. It is quite a brilliance to apply that with great actor like Jim Carrey in hand. “The Number 23” moves briskly as it supposed to. It invokes the questions and doubts of both Walter are having while what Agatha doubts. The viewers know that there is a big suspense ahead and it should be so shocking that it all makes a definite sense. This makes it tough for the director to explain the smallest information necessary to make it fool proof.

The film of course accounts for all the coincidences and mysteries surrounding it. It keeps the audience guessing and never under estimates them. But the major let down in the movie is about 30 minutes before the ending. Joel Schumacher should have brought the connection of dots well before it. Honestly, the viewer gets tired of the number 23. While initially the viewers put themselves to fill the screen with 23 in their mind, it becomes an ordeal before the film puts down its explanations.

And the biggest let down is the silliness of committing the mistake of letting a woman alone in a building in a sequence. It is dark and deserted. She goes without any protection. There is a “red” light. Now why a deserted old psychiatric hospital will have that? The answer is that it would form a nice trailer sequence. Coming back to the sequence, why would she want to go alone? This is a blunder and there the viewer loses all the enthusiasm to know about the secret.

In spite of all that, the ending is quite nice and convincing. The film had a purpose. It had a nice story and suspense. It also had the fifteen minutes of unwanted blatant sequence of “thrill” factor attached to it. A movie like this demands the momentum to keep the audience riveted to their seats. “The Number 23” definitely had it. It had for the first one hour and lost it. When it again regained, the moment was over and so was the patience with the audience.

Jim Carrey as the inquisitive and perplexed common man and also as the dark character in the book as Fingerling, does have the diversity of emotions well jolted by the screenplay. After “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”, he carries the seriousness of the role with right mimic and comic touch required for it. Virginia Madsen as a caring housewife, Agatha and a sex vixen, Fabrizia does not have that solidity of the roles demanded. There was not enough scope for her but she does well for the time she gets in the screen.

The contrast usage of different colour complexion for the imaginary story in the book and the normal course of the movie are thoughtful. The score of the movie does not come out of the screen but it satisfies the basic requirement for a thriller movie. Very normal screenplay and editing when compared to all other complex ending stories the viewers have encountered in recent days.

“The Number 23” would have been a definite emotional movie when the viewer gets aware of the suspense but it was too late for that. Unfortunately as the protagonist gets obsessed with the number and loses his life, the movie does the same with itself. A film which jumped into the plot right away and had the viewer guessing ruined itself by the clichéd sequences and number obsession. Alas! The last sentence has 23 words! Is this a coincidence? No, I broke my head for five minutes to come up with it. Not good right? So is the movie.