This weekend, I watched The Number 23. Over all, it was an enjoyable movie; but it left me with the impression that if I saw it again, I wouldn’t like it. Unlike other great movies that have creatives twists (such as The Sixth Sense, for instance), the story behind the movie is not strong enough to carry it apart from the twist. In other words, the plot itself is not fully formulated; it relies on a gimmick to keep you interested in the characters.
There are some strengths to the film. For one thing, Jim Carrey is a far better actor than many people give him credit for. When he plays serious roles, such as he does here, he demonstrates his true talent. Naturally, the script’s flaws prevent him from being outstanding, but he does everything the scripts asks of him–and then some.
Likewise, Joel Schumacher does a good job of directing the film. Shot selection, mood, etc. are all great. The only failing is the fault of the writing.
And that, unfortunately, is a big problem for the film. The characters are not developed enough to make you care about what happens to Carrey’s character, Walter Sparrow. Nor do you care much about his wife, Agatha (played by Virginia Madsen). But the real clincher is the son, Robin Sparrow, played by Logan Lerman. In the film, he acts completely without motivation, without any defining purpose, and with no great addition to the story. Everything that the son delivered in the film could have been delivered by Carrey himself and you would have lost nothing. As such, he is a completely extraneous character.
Finally, there are enough plot holes in the film to make politics look substantial. I’ll avoid spoilers for now, but suffice it to say that there is a great deal of rubbish that the audience is required to swallow that the suspense of disbelief is nearly impossible. That the screenwriter tries to pass this off as “fate” makes it even worse. Rather than making a compelling story, it simply makes it contrived. And again, while entertaining the first time, the replayablity of this film is sorely lacking. Once you know how contrived the story is, it’s not compelling anymore.
So, for the grading of the film. Carrey and Madsen were well–I give them a solid A. The rest of the cast was dismal, however. Combined, I can only give them a C. The directing was likewise good: B+. The script was dismal: D.
Overall, the film gets a C. It is worth watching once–but you might want to wait and just rent it rather than spending money in the theater for it.
