(2 Pulses)
A mystical number lurks everywhere in Jim Carrey’s new psychological thriller The Number 23. The date 9/11/2001 adds up to 23. Al Capone’s prison number was 23. Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times.
And you know what, maybe there’s something there. After all, this movie did elicit a certain number of thoughts from me.
1. Carrey plays Walter Sparrow, a dog catcher. Seriously, another pet detective?
2. Walter has a wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen) and a son, Robin (Logan Lerman). Yep, Robin Sparrow.
3. Walter’s obsession is triggered by a pulpy detective novel, also named “The Number 23.”
4. The book is written by Topsy Kretts. Get it?
5. The book’s story is played out in gritty neo-noir style as Carrey portrays Fingerling, a detective succumbing to this numerical compulsion.
6. A girl in the book is named Suicide Blonde, as in the INXS song.
7. In a clever montage, Walter begins to see the number everywhere from his birth date to cash registers.
8. Up to this point, the film is somehow slick enough to make this enigma add up, even if it doesn’t.
9. That feeling doesn’t last.
10. As the book unfolds, Walter finds eerie associations between detective Fingerling and himself.
11. When Walter begins scribbling nonsensical equations, the film’s conundrum turns to gibberish.
12. The relationship to the number becomes strained.
13. Connections are made to the number 32. “It’s 23 in reverse,” they say. Well, then it’s not 23.
14. As the exceedingly convoluted plot progresses, a grisly murder and a dog that guards the dead become incoherent developments.
15. The more obsessed Walter becomes, the more you wish Carrey would let his manic side loose. But his performance is oddly restrained.
16. As the mystery unravels, you hope it’s not heading for the most obvious climax. No such luck.
17. Twenty minutes are spent explaining the “twist.”
18. The film works feverishly to add up to 23, yet it’s the story that doesn’t add up.
19. Fernley Phillips’ script also forges a connection to the characters.
20. Madsen is too talented for her recent rash of supporting wife roles.
21. Director Joel Schumacher is giving his films the same glossy look he gave The Lost Boys, 20 years ago. Note to Schumacher: It doesn’t work anymore.
22. The Number 23 wants to follow in the psychopathological footsteps of The Shining, but it fails miserably.
Wait, that’s only 22 thoughts. That would mean the idea behind this review was senseless . . . just like The Number 23.
