Reviews

The Number 23

A zero

By PEG ALOI | February 28, 2007

2.0 Stars

If only Joel Schumacher had remade Hans-Christian Schmidâ€™s excellent 1998 German film 23, a fact-based thriller about computer hackers obsessed with conspiracy theory and Robert Anton Wilsonâ€™s Illuminatus Trilogy (which explains the so-called â€œ23 Enigmaâ€ in detail). But no. Instead, assisted by newbie screenwriter Fernley Phillips, Schumacher makes a flashy, predictable, incomprehensible piece of dreck that canâ€™t even be saved by its fine actors. Jim Carrey is Walter Sparrow, an animal-control officer happily married to baker Agatha (Virginia Madsen). Heâ€™s late to meet her one night, and she randomly selects a tome called The Number 23 in a used bookstore and insists he read it. Soon heâ€™s convinced that the odd novel is about him and that its numerological portents are everywhere. Erotic noir flashback sequences ensue, and it all feels a bit like Mike Figgisâ€™s Liebestraum with tribal tattoos. There is something to this 23 stuff, and a film about apophenia (obsession with random connections) would be fascinating. But no.

Topics: Reviews , Jim Carrey, Mike Figgis, Hans-Christian Schmid, More

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