The psychological thriller "The Number 23" stars Jim Carrey as a man whose life unravels after he comes into contact with an obscure book titled The Number 23. As he reads the book, he becomes increasingly convinced that it is based on his own life. His obsession with the number 23 starts to consume him, and he begins to realize the book forecasts far graver consequences for his life than he could have ever imagined.


Jim Carrey’s once successful career has now become “The Jim Carrey Experiment”. He found a formula that worked for him with his rubber-faced comedy, but wasn’t satisfied. Instead of doing what worked, Carrey ventured out into the world to try his hand at heavy dramas, falling back on comedy only when he needed a big paycheck. So far, dramatic Jim Carrey hasn’t quite worked.

He’s had his moments, but even at his best Carrey’s non-comedic work often slips into the slightly awkward. Sure he was alright in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but he was still Jim Carrey. When he plays it serious, he always feels like he’s holding back. So Carrey keeps mixing different formulas, trying to find the right dramatic fit. The Number 23 may be his strangest experiment, as Carrey tries out “Serious Jim” on a thriller.

It’s directed by Joel Schumacher, who over the years, has proven he’s much better at thrillers than he is at musicals or say, superhero movies. Stay away from the new version of Batman Joel, please. Joel’s best work has been on movies like Flatliners, A Time to Kill, and most recently the incredibly tense, confined space thriller Phone Booth. When movie fans hear the name Schumacher they cringe, but when Joel’s working in the right genre there’s no reason to. He has his niche, and The Number 23 fits rather comfortably right into it.

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