Scan and Pan
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
The Number 23
On his birthday, dogcatcher Walter Sparrows is given a book by his wife titled "The Number 23". It's a pulp story about a detective named Fingerling who's obsessed by the number 23 and bears an uncanny resemblance to Walter. Soon, Walter is obsessed with both the book and the number 23, and is determined to track down the book's mysterious author for answers.
There's a potentially good concept here, but Fernley Phillips' screenplay is an incoherent mess, not to mention silly and contrived. Director Schumacher (Batman & Robin, The Phantom of the Opera) tries to cover up the script's deficiencies with flashy lighting and overwrought direction, but that just makes the flaws all the more apparent to anyone with an IQ higher than, well, 23. The noir-inspired story within the story plays like a tawdry parody of the real thing. Nothing in the film works well enough to convince the audience to buy into it for even a second. The lighting of cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) is excellent, albeit wasted on this hackwork film.
Carrey looks uncomfortable as both Sparrows and Fingerling, and is unconvincing when he tries to be sinister. He may have some cool tattoos as Fingerling, but that's not enough to make Carrey believable as a tough detective. When he's worked with good directors of actors, Carrey has proven himself capable of good performances before, but under the direction of a visual stylist like Schumacher he's like a drowning man trying to find something to grasp onto. Virginia Madsen fares better with solid performances as Sparrows' wife and Fingerling's lover, but it's Logan Lerman as the Sparrows' son who gives the best performance. Poor Danny Huston has a "close my eyes and think of the money" look on his face as a friend of Sparrows' wife.
Was there ever a point when Schumacher or Carrey wondered what they'd gotten themselves into? For the audience, that point comes very early in the film. Unless your hobbies include doing MST3K-style rips on bad films, stay far away from The Number 23.
Joel Schumacher + Jim Carrey + bad script = the worst film of 2007 so far.
On his birthday, dogcatcher Walter Sparrows is given a book by his wife titled "The Number 23". It's a pulp story about a detective named Fingerling who's obsessed by the number 23 and bears an uncanny resemblance to Walter. Soon, Walter is obsessed with both the book and the number 23, and is determined to track down the book's mysterious author for answers.
There's a potentially good concept here, but Fernley Phillips' screenplay is an incoherent mess, not to mention silly and contrived. Director Schumacher (Batman & Robin, The Phantom of the Opera) tries to cover up the script's deficiencies with flashy lighting and overwrought direction, but that just makes the flaws all the more apparent to anyone with an IQ higher than, well, 23. The noir-inspired story within the story plays like a tawdry parody of the real thing. Nothing in the film works well enough to convince the audience to buy into it for even a second. The lighting of cinematographer Matthew Libatique (Requiem for a Dream, The Fountain) is excellent, albeit wasted on this hackwork film.
Carrey looks uncomfortable as both Sparrows and Fingerling, and is unconvincing when he tries to be sinister. He may have some cool tattoos as Fingerling, but that's not enough to make Carrey believable as a tough detective. When he's worked with good directors of actors, Carrey has proven himself capable of good performances before, but under the direction of a visual stylist like Schumacher he's like a drowning man trying to find something to grasp onto. Virginia Madsen fares better with solid performances as Sparrows' wife and Fingerling's lover, but it's Logan Lerman as the Sparrows' son who gives the best performance. Poor Danny Huston has a "close my eyes and think of the money" look on his face as a friend of Sparrows' wife.
Was there ever a point when Schumacher or Carrey wondered what they'd gotten themselves into? For the audience, that point comes very early in the film. Unless your hobbies include doing MST3K-style rips on bad films, stay far away from The Number 23.
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