Reviewed by Max Foizey.

Release Date: February 23, 2007
Directed By: Joel Schumacher
Starring: Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen, Logan Lerman
Rating: R

I've never really been into numerology. I understand the secrets of the universe are supposed to be unlocked via mathematics, but that always struck me as strange as math is just another man-made concept, like clocks or calendars. But there are those who get deeply involved in adding and dividing the numbers in your name, address, and social security number, to tell your future and charge your bank account.

In this film Jim Carrey takes another plunge into dramatic work, after his successful outing in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." But his latest is a dog more along the lines of "The Majestic" than "The Truman Show."

Agatha Sparrow (Virginia Madsen, looking exasperated the whole film) is killing time at a book store when she finds a tattered 'novel of obsession' and decides to purchase it for her husband Walter (Carrey). Walt becomes engrossed in the book, claiming the author "Topsy Kretts" (say it really fast) is telling his life story.

Walt starts imagining himself as Krett's protagonist "Fingerling" (gross name!)  a tattooed saxophone playing ladies man private eye. In these fantasy sequences, Fingerling is also played by Carrey, and Jim does not have the presence to pull it off at all. It's as if Ace Ventura wandered in to "Sin City." Far too silly.

To add to this silliness, Walt becomes convinced the number 23 is everywhere, evil, and out for blood. The number that is. The number 23 is evil. As far as I know, the number 22 is a teetotaler and the number 24 went to the seminary, so we should be cool on those fronts.

Walt finds the number 23 everywhere, from the letters of the colors on his walls (RED! PINK! WHITE! IT ALL ADDS UP TO 23! SOMEHOW!) to events in history, such as the sinking of the Titanic (April 15th, 1912 - 4+1+5+1+9+1+2=23!), and the Mayan's prediction of the end of the world (Dec 23rd, 2012 - 20-1-2=23!).

These 'revelations' are supposed to send chills down our spines, but I just sat there thinking "SO WHAT?" for the entirety of this picture.

The Movie: 23!
Me: SO WHAT?
The Movie: 23! 23! 23!
Me: SO WHAT?

The film tries too hard to be serious, Carrey tries too hard to be crazy, and the audience tries too hard not to leave halfway though.

If you count both his film and television work, this is the 23rd project Joel Schumacher has directed. ISN'T THAT FREAKY? Well, no, it's not. It's not even all that strange. It's called a 'coincidence,' and these type of things happen all the time. The famous exorcism that happened in Saint Louis that inspired the film "The Exorcist" happened in 1949, and 1+9+4+9 = 23! but that only proves EVERYTHING that happened in 1949 adds up to 23. Again, I have to step aside and ask...SO WHAT?

"The Number 23" misses the mark of being a hard-boiled film noir so much that when I got home from seeing it, I checked the IMDb to make sure it wasn't supposed to be a parody. I have to give first-time screenwriter Fernley Phillips credit for coming up with a whole script out of this flimsy premise, and I can't help but think he was making a comedy. ("Topsy Kretts?" C'mon.) . Instead of having fun with this nonsense, Director Schumacher is trying to make his version of Lynch's "Lost Highway" or Fincher's "Se7en" and the result is only fit for ridicule.

In addition to hosting 'Max on Movies' on Sunday nights at 7pm on 97.1 FM Talk, Max appears weekly on the Dave Glover Show Fridays at 5pm. A member of the Saint Louis Gateway Film Critics Association, Max has written about film and theatre for various print and Web media, and appeared as guest critic on various nationally syndicated radio shows. Max lives in Missouri and yet is a diehard Miami Dolphins fan.  "Synchronicity" is his favorite album by the Police.