4.5 / 5 Stars`07's The Number 23
Directed by Joel Schumacher and Screenplay by Fernley Phillips; Starring Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen and Logan Lerman
"Be sure your sin will find you out." - Numbers 32:23
As so it does for Walter Sparrow, played by Jim Carrey, in this psychological thriller about a dogcatcher who's fately put in the path of a tattered red book called The Number 23, written by an author only known as Topsy Kretts.
After spending some time reading, he finds similarities between him and the books main character, Fingerling; a detective who as a little boy, loved detective stories.
"Imagine me if you must, as someone you once knew. Someone perhaps you like, or better yet.. imagine me as you. As a kid I was at the top of my class, not because I liked studying, but because I realized that an education was my best shot at getting out. Ya see, the stork dropped me in a small, dust-bowl-of-a-town.. there wasn't anything wrong with it, as far as boring towns go, I'm sure it ranked above average. I had friends, but.. I always felt alone. No one ever left.. and I wasn't going to die here, as much as I loved him, I didn't want to be anything like my dad. He seemed so distant, its sad. Numbers were his life. He was an accountant and I guess he expected me to take over the business he had built, but I had other plans.
My mom was tickled pink on my 8th birthday, when I announced I wanted to be a detective. Can't say the same for my father, he really put the kabosh on his master plan and it fueled his hatred for the widow Dopkins; she lived next door. Sounds odd but, her dog Alfie.. was the reason I became a detective. The grass is always greener on the other side, atleast.. according to Alfie, that's why he was always in our yard. It was my job to catch him, but I never crossed the fence into the widow Dopkins yard, that was my father's rule. On my 8th birthday, I broke the rule... now I must admit that my lonliness and obsession with detective stories, fueled fantasies.. so I'm not sure of the details; except one..."- read by Carrey's character during a visual sequence showing Fingerling's childhood.
By this point, Walter is mystified by how much he and the character Fingerling, have in common. Fingerling got his detective name from a book he once read as a child called "Fingerling At The Zoo", which Walter also read as a kid. Even most neighbors have dogs these days, but Walter's neighbor had a dog named Chief. "Mischief" his father liked to call him, he always got out, which ultimately led him to become a dogcatcher.
Sparrow's wife Agatha replies, "but Fingerling was a detective."
Walter argues, "I used to collect detective magazines."
As his wife thinks he's innocently overreacting, his son Robin, gets in on it pointing out even more similarities. Everything in Walter's life, his birthdate, his license plate number, his home address; it all adds up to twenty-three, Robin's comments puts Agatha in a protective role of going along this ride with her husband and son, to find out what this book means to their family. A Mysterious murder, a not-so innocent man, and a guard Dog are among the weird vile, that fill the screen. All contributing to an ending so shocking, it'll make you ponder some of the things you've done, and gotten away with.
Weirded out yet? Confused at what I'm trying to get across? I'm not trying to explain anything, I'm just giving you a taste of how creative this movie is.
If you love voice-over acting, you'll be excited to know this movie is chalk-full of it. Movies with voice-over acting, are as close as Hollywood's ever going to get to capturing that feeling of reading a very discriptive book. You can explain so much in little time, without showing it. Same goes for films with little dialoge; in films like Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, you're subject to many quick-as-a-flash shots of characters, whether it be cuddling, fighting, etc.. you don't need to hear any dialoge to understand what you're seeing.
This movie will keep you locked in for the remainder of the ride, as you're treated with a very visualistic style of directing. In one flashback scene of Fingerling's childhood, the camera glides from Carrey's shoulder, to inside the book, all in one smooth transition. As you're now in the book, things pass by the camera as if they are straight out of a pop-up book. Somewhat stuck in between 2D and 3D. All of the cinematography when inside the book.. gets darker and darker as the characters do. At one moment, the director's using very bright contrast on a scene that's slightly still non-depressive, but quickly goes into the darker gray tones to show the characters decline from sanity.
As for the score, there's nothing I feel I need to say about it. It's perfect for this film and this film only. The score and the film do very well of being on the same page. Very moving.
I think this movie is the only movie to ever have a negative and positive ending stapled together.
You'll be shocked, just as if you would watching some of Hitchcock's best thrillers, because this movie very well has a Hitchcockian vibe to it.
I leave you with one last line from the movie,
"There's no such thing as destiny. There are only different choices. Some choices are easy, some aren't. Those are the really important ones, the ones that define us as people."- Walter Sparrow
I suggest you do what I did, buy this movie. Even if you don't rent it first.. let it be one of those movies you buy not knowing how it was going to turn out. I assure you... it won't be one of those mistakes.
Are you afraid that your sins will come back to haunt you?
--Brok Spiker
Quotes from the "Number 23" DVD subtitles
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