Tags:
Film: The Number 23
Year: 2007
Director: Joel Schumacher
Writer: Fernley Phillips
Starring: Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen and Logan Lerman
Review:
This is an interesting film with the synopsis being Walter Sparrow (Jim Carrey) becomes obsessed with a novel that he believes to be written about him. As his obsession increases, more and more similarities seem to arise.
I want to lead off stating that this film has a great concept. I love the idea of finding a novel that gets Carrey so intrigued that he is consumed about it. It also has a great twist that I thought makes it even better. The acting is good and I’ll be the first to admit that I was really surprised at how good Carrey was in this film as it is not a comedy, which obviously what he is known for. The supporting cast was really good as well. I found Virginia Madsen, who is his wife and Logan Lerman, who portrays his son to be solid.
I am a big fan as well of watching Carrey get so drawn into the novel that he starts to go crazy. I have personally read books that I connected with so much, but I couldn’t imagine getting so sucked in. It does make a lot more sense at the twist of the film as well.
There are some issues with this film though. The first issue I had is the film reaches quite a bit on number and how they add things to reach the number 23. I think legitimately there are a couple different numbers that could be used in replacement. This comes off to me as the conspiracy theorist will see what they want. This last thought isn’t necessarily problem though. I also question some of the decisions that Madsen makes as she learns the truth of what has happened. I wonder what I would do in the same situation.
I am adding this to the horror film research, because of Carrey’s descent into madness. There is also murder in this film, which is a horror film element.
Now with that said, I would recommend seeing this film. It has good acting, the story is solid and the concept is really interesting. The twist the film has I really enjoyed as well. The music selection for the scenes is well done and it sets the stage. The film does have some parts that I feel at reaches, but you will have that with an idea like this. This film is also a fun one to watch it to see what the twist is; it is then good to watch again to put the pieces together if you are into that type of thing with films. This is a solid film and worth a viewing.
My Rating: 7 out of 10