My Review of The Number 23 (2007)

 

Written by Fernley Phillips

Directed by Joel Schumacher 

Walter: "There's no such thing as destiny. There are only different choices. Some choices are easy, some aren't. Those are the really important ones, the ones that define us as people."

Twelve years prior to the release of this film, director Joel Schumacher and lead actor Jim Carrey had of course worked on Batman Forever. Their second team up. I really wanted to like this.

Trading DC Comics for a more horror crime thriller, this film had Jim Carrey in one of his more serious roles. He's a dog catcher named Walter Sparrow. He's a bit fixated on the 23 enigma (the basis for this film) and a certain book has become an obsession of his as well.

It's enough to cause concern for his wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen) and son, Robin (Logan Lerman). In the book, Walter's also a detective named Fingerling who killed his lover, Fabrizia (who's basically Agatha) when he learned that she was having an affair. There's a few dark sex scenes involving Walter and Fabrizia in the film.

The death of a woman named Laura Tollins (Rhona Mitra) drove a lot of the movie. It especially drove Fingerling into talking to the convicted Kyle Flinch (Mark Pellegrino). The latter denied killing Laura and also denied writing the book that was making everyone crazy in this film.

The more things went on, the more convoluted this whole thing was. Walter failed to commit suicide, which he forgot about for the most part. Then there was the reveal of Agatha's own part in Walter's past and also the involvement of Dr. Leary (Bud Cort). 

Honestly, Walter's 23 obsession destroyed his past family and it was on the verge of doing the same again. It took a lot for Agatha to get through to him and even by the end of this film, I got the impression that Walter wouldn't be free of his 23 enigma.

-  Numbers 32:23 - "Be sure that your sin will find you out." That certainly was applicable to Walter here.

- There's some supporting roles for Danny Huston, Lynn Collins and Corey Stoll.

- Standout music: Dean Martin's Blue Christmas.

- Chronology: Walter/Agatha met when the former was 23. He had thirteen years of peace before the events of the film.

The Number 23 had a good idea and an interesting director/lead actor combo but the results are a mess. It's a fairly dull thriller that moved too sluggishly for its own good. I wanted to like this one, I really did but I just couldn't get into it.

Rating: 5 out of 10