Written by Fernley Phillips
Directed by Joel Schumacher
Runtime 101 min.
3 out of 5
They say it is just a number. They say it doesn’t mean anything, but for Walter Sparrow, the number 23 quickly becomes his whole world and he begins seeing it in everything he sets his eyes on.
At first things appear to be mere coincidence—the numerical value of his name (23), his birthday (2/3), but as time goes on, the number seems to take on a life of its own and leads him down a pathway to darkness and psychosis.
Jim Carrey stars as Walter Sparrow in this Joel Schumacher-directed flick and once again Carrey proves he’s more than just a goofball actor. Carrey plays the serious role well. He blew me away in Man on the Moon. I loved him in Eternal Sunshine of a Spotless Mind. If anything, I prefer him in his more dramatic roles than playing the funny man.
Virginia Madsen did an excellent job portraying Sparrow’s wife. The unconditional love she had for her husband was in every scene even when things got crazy.
My first reaction as to how it all wrapped up left me wanting more, then, after thinking about it prior to writing this review, the way it all came together in the end worked perfectly.
This is a movie for those who enjoy intrigue, the hidden threads of Reality and how exploring those threads leads a person down the dangerous and dark path of obsession and skewed perception of the world around them.
Numerology, which plays a part in the Reality you and I live in, is dangerous and this movie shows why. Though this was a work of fiction, the dangers of getting into numerology are real. It has the potential to control you. Be careful.
The only reason for the lower rating was because, despite its detailed plot, I still felt I was only getting part of the story and not a deep submergence into Sparrow’s psyche.