A lot of twists and turns await in The Number 23 by Joel Schumacher. Walter Sparrow (Jim Carrey) is a loving husband and father who is an animal control officer. His life is turned upside-down when he is late to meet his wife after being bitten by a dog whilst on duty. To pass the time his wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen), browses around in a book store and buys him a book to read entitled The Number 23. As he reads it he encounters a lot of similarities between his own life and the life of the protagonist, Fingerling. In the novel Fingerling is a detective who tries to stop a girl from committing suicide, but does not succeed in his efforts. The girl was haunted by the number twenty-three as was her father before her, and now the number is coming after him. In turn, Walter begins to see the number twenty-three everywhere. When he again encounters the dog that initially bit him, it leads him to the grave of a young woman called Laura Tollins. As his life starts to unravel, it becomes apparent that there is indeed much truth to his obsession with the book. But he might not like what he finds…
Although I found the film to be a big disappointment, I must admit that the cinematography and camera techniques were absolutely excellent. Too bad they do not save the film from its downfall. The trailer, which enthralled me, is quite deceiving. It creates the impression of a conspiracy-theory film about the significance of the number twenty-three. When viewed in totality, however, the film lapses into another stereotype thriller. It tries to be too clever for its own good and relies on far-fetched twists and turns to create several incredulous elements of surprise.
I believe that the numerology topic has a lot of potential, but that it did not reach its full potential in this film. SPOILER WARNING! DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT YET WATCHED THE FILM: The idea of destiny finding its way to Walter and making him pay for his sins is spread too thick. It is quite unbelievable that such a loving father and husband could also be a callous murderer. And his wife and son’s reactions to his previous life is quite unconvincing as well. Where is the outraged confusion? The heartache? The resentment? The film ends with such hopeful closure which would upstage The Brady Bunch. And Walter’s repentance at the end seems too good to be true – like a superficial, pretentious sermon. But who am I to judge? My sins are bound to find me out as well. Hopefully my skeletons aren’t as dark as Walter’s though… SPOILERS END HERE.
Genre: Thriller / Mystery / Suspense-Drama
Running time: 95 min
Country: USA
Language: English
Director: Joel Schumacher
Writing credits: Fernley Phillips
Producers: Fernley Phillips
Beau Flynn
Tripp Vinson
Distributed by: New Line Cinema
Main Cast:
Walter Sparrow – Jim Carrey
Fingerling – Jim Carrey
Agatha Sparrow – Virginia Madsen
Fabrizia – Virginia Madsen
Robin Sparrow – Logan Lerman
Isaac French – Danny Huston
Dr. Miles Phoenix – Danny Huston
Suicide blonde – Lynn Collins
Laura Tollins – Rhona Mitra
