Boil It Down: Jim Carrey gives three engrossingly nuanced performances to help audiences weather dim-witted supporting players in a quasi-thriller/mystery/noir.
After his wife Agatha (a disturbingly mundane Virginia Madsen) gives him a book to read which shares its title with that of the movie, animal control officer Walter becomes obsessed with the preponderance of the number 23 throughout history, as well as his own life. The September 11 attacks add up to 23 (9+11+2+0+0+1), as do the numbers in his Social Security Number. He was born in February 3 (23), Caesar was stabbed 23 times...and so on. The author of the book also has similar life experiences to Walter, including a neighbor with a dog and a string of murder/suicides in the family. Walter's obsession eventually ensnares both Agatha and their son Robin (Logan Lerman), uncovering secrets no one thought existed.
The Number 23 is one of those films where, if certain characters have a modicum of intelligence, the entire narrative completely collapses in on itself. Therefore, the script relies almost completely on contrivance and coincidence to set the whole thing in motion. On one particular night, Walter has to be late picking up Agatha. She, in turn, has to have time to go into a bookstore and find a red, ratty manuscript sitting on the shelf. Walter has to be so late to allow Agatha to flip through it, finally deciding to buy the thing. Having time off due to an injury,Walter has to read "The Number 23" and find something to latch onto. He has to be well-versed in history, or at least proficient with Google and the internet. Both Agatha have to allow this to continue without a whole lot of argument... See where this is going? If just one piece of this elaborate puzzle is out of place, the entire narrative ceases to work in any meaningful way. So it's under that guise this movie takes place. Here's a word of caution: the story won't make a ton of sense until a revelation in the third act is introduced, so don't try to figure it out beforehand.
That's either the brilliance of the script or its great failing. I haven't decided which yet. By not putting all its cards on the table early on, The Number 23 keeps the audience guessing, interested in where the story is going and how it will all be explained. On the other hand, it can be maddeningly deceptive, refusing to provide clues about how the story will turn out, thereby turning the audience off completely from investing in it. Schumacher is able to keep interest by shrouding the film-both the real world storyline and that of Detective Fingerling in the novel-in darkness and blown out colors when appropriate. Red is an important color in each plot, yet it also remains one of the only vibrant hues on the screen. It necessarily catches our attention on the vast backdrop of gray, green and brown. When the film switches to showing the story Walter is reading, the director changes the style into something along the lines of Sin City or The Spirit, hyper-stylized with deep contrasts and a blown out look.
Which brings us to Carrey. Being the centerpiece of The Number 23, he has to credibly morph from one character to another while playing a third in a dream-like state. He does so with aplomb, letting small pieces of the obsessed man come through while keeping tight hold of his sanity. Walter doesn't get consumed with the number simply because it's a cool little side project. No, the script continually reminds us he is obsessed because of all the similarities he shares with Fingerling. That's his driving force since the detective himself is obsessed with the same thing. With the Fingerling character, Carrey is a different kind of man, a scary, haunting, noir-ish figure most likely unlike anyone he's played before or since. It's almost as if the direction was to remind the audience this is Jim Carrey through the Sparrow character and flip expectations on their head with Fingerling. A night and day difference between the performances bridges all three "characters" he tackles. (Madsen, as already noted, doesn't leave any sort of impression as either Agatha or Fingerling's fling Fabrizia. There's a sense she doesn't completely buy into the story or understand it, simply regurgitating lines she's memorized. Even her role in the climax can't stand up to Carrey's wildly manic Walter.)
There are two distinct movies within The Number 23. The first is all about Walter's descent into madness, intriguing enough on its own. Interspersing the Fingerling story with that of plain old Walter keeps the action moving while providing a counterpoint to each character. (There's a bit of misdirection involved here which can only be discussed after watching the film.) Then there's the second part, a mystery/thriller/noir wannabe that doesn't work as well as it should because it hinges on coincidence. To say much more would be to spoil the "a ha!" moment. Let's leave it at this: the finale kinda sorta makes sense, as long as rational thinking people don't delve into it too deeply. Again, it all depends on characters in the story not asking the questions they should, not doing their homework and being far too easily manipulated for the sake of the story. The first half-particularly everything outlined above-could be glossed over and accepted as "movie reality." There's simply no excuse for Agatha being as bone-headed as she turns out to be in the end.
Want to know how jarring the eventual resolution turns out to be? The film feels the need to include a montage over the explanation, detailing all the clues the audience has likely missed, just like an episode of Murder, She Wrote. And a coda is appallingly out of place; sure, it provides some closure on the story. But did we really need that closure?
The Number 23 is available on DVD and Blu-ray.
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