Some things just don't add up
Jim Carrey disappoints again in his latest venture, 'The Number 23'
By Phil Villarreal
Pvillarreal@azstarnet.com
Tucson, Arizona | Published: 02.22.2007
Twenty-three reasons to avoid wasting your time with "The Number 23," a frazzled drama in which Jim Carrey plays a family man who becomes obsessed with a numerology-filled murder mystery novel that has eerie similarities to his life:
1. The Carrey character obsessively counts things and adds them up into sets of 23, and annoyingly gets you to start doing the same.
2. Combined, the number of letters in the names of director Joel Schumacher and Jim Carrey add up to 23. Arrgh! See?
3. It's got a late-film twist that's a straight-up groaner, undermining what little credibility the film has built up.
4. When Carrey plays a lunatic — the Grinch, the Riddler and the Cable Guy as well as this film — he's creepy not in an intriguing way, but in that ew-get-away-from-me way.
5. It's one of those films that looks like it was shot and edited while on the Zipper carnival ride. Herky-jerky and grainy. Pass the Pepto-Bismol.
6. Take Carrey's age (45) and subtract the number of characters in the title "The Number 23" (11) and the number of letters in the name of actor Logan Lerman, who plays Carrey's son, and you get 23. Noooo!
7. Schumacher still doesn't deserve to be forgiven for "Batman & Robin."
8. The film is gloomier than Lute Olson after his fifth loss at McKale Center in a season.
9. "The Number 23" would have been a great title for a Michael Jordan documentary, but now it's ruined.
10. Many scenes feature the Carrey character staring into a book. Gripping stuff.
11. Fernley Phillips' script lacks a single line of memorable dialogue.
12. There's a climactic, explain-everything montage that recalls "Scooby-Doo," only without the humor or the payoff of unmasking kindly Old Mr. Farley saying, "And I woulda gotten away with it, too, if it weren't for that dang number 23!"
13. Carrey hasn't made a decent comedy since "Me, Myself & Irene" seven years ago. If this film fails, maybe he'll go back to the well and make another one.
14. The only really cool part of the film is the opening credits, in which all sorts of bizarre facts about the number 23 are tossed out in snippets. It's all downhill from there.
15. After her breakout Oscar-nominated performance in "Sideways," it seems the only role Virginia Madsen has been able to land is the bland, understanding wife.
16. The film opens Feb. 23. Expect it to hit the cheap theaters by March 23.
17. The soundtrack failed to include the Blink 182 song "What's My Age Again?" which includes the lyric "Nobody likes you when you're 23. . . ."
18. There's one of those "gotcha!" moments in which something terrible happens, then a character wakes up and realizes it was only a dream.
19. There are gross scenes of Carrey scribbling on himself with a pen.
20. Schumacher made "St. Elmo's Fire," his breakout film, in 1985. Add up the numbers 1, 9, 8 and 5 and you get 23. Please make it stop.
21. This is a movie only the Count von Count from "Sesame Street" could appreciate.
22. Twenty-three dollars is what you'll be out if you buy a couple tickets to this and some popcorn.
23. You'll have fewer than 23 hours left in your day after the film has taken its time-sucking toll.
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