Movie Title: The Number 23

Director: Joel Schumacher

Rated: 15 (UK) R (US)

Genre: Drama/Mystery/Thriller

Runtime: 95 Minutes

Viewed: In My Chair watching the TV Screen

Synopsis: The story of Walter Sparrow (Jim Carey) a man who receives a book as a birthday gift from his wife only to discover similarities within the story to his own life. The more he reads the more the book, entitled the number 23, starts to consume his everyday life and he himself becomes obsessed with the number 23.

Opinion: M'Kay...first things first. I have heard many and varied reviews about this movie. Some say it's good, others say it's great, and some say it's just downright terrible. So I decided that I would download it to watch it and see what it's like without spending any money on it, which I know is naughty...but hey, whatta ya gonna do?

So I don't know if it was my crappy eyesight, the fact that the film was...ahem....downloaded or what, but I found it to be a very dark film, and I don't just mean in tone or subject matter or anything. But that overall did add to the "mood" of the movie and especially the parts where Carey's character was reading the book, it was an almost black & white hazy sort of effect so you kind of suspended your disbelief and went along with the story. Reminded me somewhat of the way Sin City was shot in that comic book style.

Anyways, the Movie itself,....well I didn't think after the first 20 minutes or so that I was going to get into it, but I stuck with it and it did start to get me wondering. Not unlike how TV shows such as Jericho, LOST & 24 keep you on the edge of following what's going on, but not really knowing what's going on until they let you in on it.

What is good is Carey's performance. The whole paranoia sort of builds up over the course of the movie and he's a million miles away from the Ace Ventura roles that he's more famous for. He does turn in a good performance as a man slowly becoming consumed with an obsession.

Virginia Madsen, as his wife, plays probably the best role that she has in along time too.

The Movie being directed by Joel Schumacher I was expecting a sort of bright, loud, shouty kind of film along the lines of some of his other directorial efforts such as Batman & Robin, Flatliners and Lost Boys, but it wasn't it started a little slow in my opinion but then built up and built up until the end when....well I'm not gonna spoil the ending if you haven't seen it, but things are explained...I was just left feeling a little....disappointed I guess with the end after it could have gone all out, balls to the wall and really had an explosive ending...and it was a bit of a let down in the respect...kinda like Irondog in the bedroom...promises much, but delivers little.

So I enjoyed it, but the ending overall made what could have been a great Movie just an OK Movie. If you've seen enough of this type of Movie, (for example the Saw franchise), and watch the aforementioned TV shows then you'll probably have figured out the ending before you ever arrive there.


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