The Number 23

The movies commercial does a good job of explaining and setting up the premise of the movie. Jim Carrey reads a book and becomes fixated on the number 23. The movie has enough content to keep it going for the full 2 hours and does a fine job wrapping it all up in the end. That's what this movie had to have to be worth seeing, and that's a well-crafted ending.

Jim Carrey does alright. I still see him as Ace Ventura in everything he does. So when he reads the book and imagines himself as a film-noir detective I can't help but laugh and think that his acting range isn't quite that broad. But he is believable in the movie as a man who spirals out of control and goes mad. He's got that mad edge to him in real life. So it wasn't a stretch.

The directing was pretty good considering it was directed by the master-of-suck himself, Joel Schumacher. Joel Schumacher single handedly destroyed the Batman franchise until Christopher Nolan came in and breathed new life into it. Joel's other cinematic masterpieces include The Incredible Shrinking Woman, Bad Company, and The Phantom of the Opera. Although he is not a bad director and he has directed some of my favorite films, the guy is more hit-and-miss than a drive-by shooting.

This one is a hit though and I recommend it. The critics hated it and many movie goers may not be able to stay drawn into the plot. But for me, I had a good time through the main characters descent into madness.

Rating: 8 out of 10