When Agatha Sparrow (Virginia Madsen) has an extra moment at a book store while waiting for her husband Walter (Jim Carrey), she picks up a book about the number 23. Written by Topsy Kretts (I would have gone with something like Drew Peacock or Jacques Strap), it's about loose numerology, and connections between statistics that soon consume Walter's life. Before making it through more than the first few chapters, he realizes that all the important numbers in his life, his important dates, his address, his zip code, his in-seam (just kidding), and his IQ (not kidding) can all be easily manipulated to some variation of the number 23. Paranoia ensues.

Jim Carrey's dual-performance as Walter, and Fingerling, the sociopath detective from the book causing the paranoia, is masterful. Carrey shows his range as an actor, distancing himself from the rubber-faced contortionist act that made him a superstar. And Virginia Madsen as a cleavage-displaying, sex-craved Fabrizia, a woman into bondage, sadomasochism, and rape fantasies is equally jaw dropping. In fact, combining her character with the cameo by Rhona Mitra makes me wish there were a sequel.

Portions of the cinematography are similarly ingenious. There are extreme color contrasts, with blacks darker than an eclipse battling bleached alabaster whites for the viewer's focus. The combination reminded me of aspects from Sin City.

Finally, the ending is interesting but a little predictable. If one allows themselves to delve into the story, it's quite easy to ignore the foreshadowing. For those who enjoy pointing out how a magician does something more than enjoying the magic, you may hate the ending.

As far as the actual point of the movie, well, that's pretty stupid. Forgive me, but it just doesn't add up. Jim Carey was born on Jan 17. If January is the number 1, and you add it to 17, there doesn't seem to be anything mysterious going on; it's only 18. But if you add the 5 times I rolled my eyes during the number theory explanations, wait, THAT'S 23!! What I learned from the movie are two terms I found to describe the plot. The first is apophenia, the experience of seeing patterns or connections in random or meaningless data. The second is known as the Texas sharpshooter fallacy. Basically, the idea comes from the idea of someone shooting several rounds into the broadside of a barn, and THEN painting a target in such a fashion to make it appear that the shots were on target. In other words, the conclusions are artificial.

Then again, I was born in 1976 (1+9+7+6=23)...

the movie was very good, a little confusing in the middle, but an over all good movie

it rock this movie puts u on the edge it has lot of surprise's in it u will love it buy

Number 23 rated about two or three stars in my book. It deals with the never ending fascination that many people have with certain apparantly meaningful numbers. Pi (3.14159, etc.) was another and I think superior film that dealt with the subject of obsessing over certain numbers.

Jim Carrey pulled off the somewhat interesting plot which held my interest until roughly two thirds of the way through the story. It was interesting to see him in a serious role for a change and witness his acting virtuosity.

As far as I am concerned I never see the number "23" repeated in my own life and find the premise of the film ridiculous. Obviously, the number that shows up constantly in life is "13", as in my first address was 1363 something or other, 1+3+6+3=13. Note that this type of arithmetic transaction is representative of the premise of this movie; only substitute the number "23".

All kidding aside the film pi and a mathematician's preoccupation with that particular number was a much more interesting film. Speaking as an engineer and a person with a certain fascination with all numbers I find the distribution of ratings from Amazon reviewers interesting with a flat, approximately equal number of ratings in each star group. I hope the limited success of this film does not prevent Jim Carrey from trying his hand at more serious roles in the future.

Walter Sparrow (Jim Carrey) is a family-man married with Agatha Sparrow (Virginia Madsen), and works catching dogs in the Department of Animal Control and has a teenager son very close to his wife and him. On the day of his birthday, he is bitten by a dog and comes late to meet Agatha. While waiting for him, Agatha buys a detective book with a novel about the mystery around the number 23 in a bookstore as a gift to Walther. He becomes captivated with the story and obsessed with the number 23, finding many coincidences with his own life, and he decides to find the author, believing the story is about him. His further investigation discloses a mysterious situation that makes Walther paranoid.

The dark "The Number 23" is a great tale of obsession, paranoid and redemption. The story and the characters are very well developed, the final twist is totally unexpected and the film has a stylish cinematography and edition, with intense use of dark colors. There are stunning sequences, like for example when the boy meets the widow dead on her bed, or the meeting of Fingerling with Suicide Blonde. Jim Carrey is perfect and Virginia Madsen is still a very beautiful and sexy woman and has a great performance. In spite of having a moralist conclusion, it works and leaves a magnificent message of justice and moral standards that are almost forgotten in the present days.