Number 23 (2007) Critic Reviews

Let's cut to the chase: Movies don't get much more dunderheaded than Joel Schumacher's semi-psychological thriller The Number 23.

STEPHANIE ZACHAREK
February 22, 2007

This is the sort of film where no one can say anything without someone else commenting: 'Thirty-two -- 23 reversed!' Yes, and what do you know? There are 23 letters in the phrase 'better luck next time, folks.'

MICHAEL PHILIPS
February 22, 2007

Schumacher is as much to blame for this mess as Carrey is. Over and over again, he mistakes looming shadows and manic outbursts for tension, and his ponderous, ham-fisted directorial style creates more questions than it answers.

Josh Rosenblatt
March 10, 2007

It just adds up to sheer ineptitude.

MELISSA ANDERSON
March 03, 2007

The author's obsession with the number 23 becomes Walter's, and we're treated to a lot of examples of numbers that add up to 23, which means a lot of scenes in which people say things like, 'What's 14 plus 9? 23!' and look haunted.

MOIRA MCDONALD
February 23, 2007

If nothing else -- and, trust me, there ain't much else -- the title has a satisfying ring of candour. Yep, The Number 23 is all about the number 23.

RICK GROEN
February 23, 2007

For all its gimmicky numerology, The Number 23 just doesn't add up.

TOM CHARITY
July 09, 2007

This thriller's biggest mistake is its belief that it's as clever and original as it is visually stylish.

GEORGE PALATHINGAL
April 27, 2007

Watching Carrey babble gibberish about the sinister nature of 23 in scene after hyperventilating scene isn't any more fun or enlightening than listening to street-corner lunatics discourse on similar topics.

NATHAN RABIN
February 24, 2007

I'm not much of a math student, but I can tell you what The Number 23 all adds up to: nothing.

CONNIE OGLE
February 22, 2007

Julius Caesar was stabbed 23 times. Charles Manson was born Nov. 12 (11 + 12 = 23). The Mayans believed the world would end on Dec. 23, 2012 (20 + 1 + 2 = 23). My brother stole my pogo stick when I was 23 and broke it into 23 pieces.

PETER HOWELL
February 23, 2007

By the end, you'll want to stick around, if only to crack the Jim Carrey code: Is he a real actor after all, or is the rabid urgency with which he keeps trying to be the most real thing about him?

OWEN GLEIBERMAN
February 21, 2007

Pages turn, knives plunge, rain patters and the camera rarely holds steady. No amount of quick cuts and twitchy shots, however, can compensate for the lack of narrative momentum.

LISA ROSE
February 23, 2007

It makes you want to cover your eyes and clutch your ears.

PETER RAINER
February 22, 2007

Carrey owns this movie. He's in virtually every scene, and there's no taking one's eyes from him.

MICK LASALLE
February 23, 2007

The only fright in the nominal thriller The Number 23 is how shaggy, gaunt, and wiped out Jim Carrey looks.

WESLEY MORRIS
February 23, 2007

Gimmicky numerology plus Jim Carrey minus narrative coherence equals The Number 23.

JUSTIN CHANG
February 21, 2007

The Number 23 is an accidental comedy starring a deadly serious Jim Carrey.

MANOHLA DARGIS
February 23, 2007

The main test of a twisty thriller is, would you watch it again? You won't, because the solution turns out to be both uncomplicated and cliché.

KYLE SMITH
February 23, 2007

Carrey has never looked so uncomfortable on-screen.

KEVIN CRUST
February 22, 2007

There's a mess of things wrong with this suspense thriller. Start with the fact that it's neither suspenseful nor thrilling.

PETER TRAVERS
February 20, 2007

A numerological, super-dumb-ological thriller.

STEVEN REA
February 22, 2007

This is a film that doesn't quite know what it is. Perhaps a mistake would be the fairest description.

WENDY IDE
February 23, 2007

As Sam Goldwyn said: Include me out.

STEPEHEN HUNTER
February 22, 2007