2008 Woodie Awards
Filming by numbers
Paul Sorenson - The Daily Iowan
Issue date: 2/26/07 Section: Arts
- Page 1 of 1
Jim Carrey is hilarious!
Seriously. In his new comedy, The Number 23, he plays Walter Sparrow, a dogcatcher who had a childhood dream of being a detective. It's like Ace Ventura without Dan Marino or colorful shirts! Then, like, out of nowhere, he finds this crazy book that makes him obsessed with the number 23. He sees it everywhere, in his name, in his past, even in an evasive dog named Ned! He even does this weird Mask-like thing when he portrays the lunatic character in the book, Fingerling (funny name, right?!).
Wait. It's supposed to be a horror film? No, that's not right - it ain't scary. A thriller then? But aren't those supposed to involve thrills? Since when was a number a fitting villain - it's like a counting episode of Sesame Street gone horribly wrong.
The plot is easy enough to follow. Sparrow finds book about the number 23. Sparrow sees numerous parallels within book, as if the number controls his life - and perhaps has mystical powers worldwide. Examples: 23 letters in the Latin alphabet, the date of Hitler's suicide (4/19) adds up to 23, 2/3 = .666, the number of the devil. Sparrow's name, somehow, adds up to 32, which the filmmakers repeatedly remind us is "23 backwards!" The movie begins on Feb. 3, opened on the 23rd, etc., etc., etc. …
The movie presents the number like a revelation, but it's already a tired concept. Numerology had its resurrection within the unfortunate Da Vinci Code phenomenon. The prog-rock band Tool has released numerous tracks based on the idea ("Viginti Tres," "46 and 2"). And by the end of the film, when the number eventually uncovers a real-life murder leading to an absurd plot twist involving, once again, trauma-induced amnesia, you really can't do anything but laugh.
I wasn't quite sure who to fault on this one. I love Carrey's non-comedic turns - in fact, I'd take a Man on the Moon or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to a Liar Liar any day. The prospect of Carrey as truly demented is inviting, but the lunacy caused by the evil number is neither realistic nor sympathetic, just pathetic - although he couldn't have done much better, given the material. Virginia Madsen, wonderful in Sideways but unable to find an equitable role since, confidently fills her throwaway role as the caring wife/sexy, death-obsessed murder victim in Fingerling's alternate reality.
So, sorry, director Joel Schumacher, you're going to have to take the blame again. It's not as bad as the Batman and Robin neon orgy, but it's far from his relative height of the Michael Douglas vehicle, Falling Down. His problem with The Number 23 is that he spends so much time trying to channel other distinct filmic voices (I'm pretty sure that the saxophone-playing murderer Fingerling is a direct reference to David Lynch's Lost Highway) while ignoring its responsibility to produce what could have been a much more complete film.
But if you want my true impression, piece together the first letter of every 23rd word. The answer might make just as much sense as the film.
E-mail DI reporter Paul Sorenson at:
paul-sorenson@uiowa.edu
Seriously. In his new comedy, The Number 23, he plays Walter Sparrow, a dogcatcher who had a childhood dream of being a detective. It's like Ace Ventura without Dan Marino or colorful shirts! Then, like, out of nowhere, he finds this crazy book that makes him obsessed with the number 23. He sees it everywhere, in his name, in his past, even in an evasive dog named Ned! He even does this weird Mask-like thing when he portrays the lunatic character in the book, Fingerling (funny name, right?!).
Wait. It's supposed to be a horror film? No, that's not right - it ain't scary. A thriller then? But aren't those supposed to involve thrills? Since when was a number a fitting villain - it's like a counting episode of Sesame Street gone horribly wrong.
The plot is easy enough to follow. Sparrow finds book about the number 23. Sparrow sees numerous parallels within book, as if the number controls his life - and perhaps has mystical powers worldwide. Examples: 23 letters in the Latin alphabet, the date of Hitler's suicide (4/19) adds up to 23, 2/3 = .666, the number of the devil. Sparrow's name, somehow, adds up to 32, which the filmmakers repeatedly remind us is "23 backwards!" The movie begins on Feb. 3, opened on the 23rd, etc., etc., etc. …
The movie presents the number like a revelation, but it's already a tired concept. Numerology had its resurrection within the unfortunate Da Vinci Code phenomenon. The prog-rock band Tool has released numerous tracks based on the idea ("Viginti Tres," "46 and 2"). And by the end of the film, when the number eventually uncovers a real-life murder leading to an absurd plot twist involving, once again, trauma-induced amnesia, you really can't do anything but laugh.
I wasn't quite sure who to fault on this one. I love Carrey's non-comedic turns - in fact, I'd take a Man on the Moon or Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind to a Liar Liar any day. The prospect of Carrey as truly demented is inviting, but the lunacy caused by the evil number is neither realistic nor sympathetic, just pathetic - although he couldn't have done much better, given the material. Virginia Madsen, wonderful in Sideways but unable to find an equitable role since, confidently fills her throwaway role as the caring wife/sexy, death-obsessed murder victim in Fingerling's alternate reality.
So, sorry, director Joel Schumacher, you're going to have to take the blame again. It's not as bad as the Batman and Robin neon orgy, but it's far from his relative height of the Michael Douglas vehicle, Falling Down. His problem with The Number 23 is that he spends so much time trying to channel other distinct filmic voices (I'm pretty sure that the saxophone-playing murderer Fingerling is a direct reference to David Lynch's Lost Highway) while ignoring its responsibility to produce what could have been a much more complete film.
But if you want my true impression, piece together the first letter of every 23rd word. The answer might make just as much sense as the film.
E-mail DI reporter Paul Sorenson at:
paul-sorenson@uiowa.edu
Viewing Comments 1 - 1 of 1
Bobb999
posted 3/05/07 @ 5:21 PM CST
The Number 23 Enigma didn't begin with this movie! Strange coincidences involving #23 were noticed by William S. Burroughs back in the early '60s, associated especially with death and disaster, often in the form of disaster headlines, such as "Montreal Apt. (Continued…)
Post a Comment