The Number 23

Have you ever felt like you were being watched? Have you ever felt like you were being watched by a number? In Jim Carrey’s sexy, psychological thriller, The Number 23, the characters quickly become a little more than well-acquainted with this seemingly inane dilemma.

Walter Sparrow (played by Carrey) is a loving husband and father as well as the fifth unit of the local dog-catcher. On his 32nd birthday, he happens upon a tattered, red book named The Number 23, written by an author with the stage persona Topsy Kretts. While Walter originally has no intent of actually reading the book, bought for him by his wife, Agatha Sparrow (Virginia Madsen), he takes a chance and is immediately drawn in by Fingerling—the protagonist and antagonist to his own story. The further Walter gets into The Number 23 the more he realizes he has in common with Topsy Kretts. Soon enough, he also notices that the number 23 is appearing more and more often in his once seemingly average life. From adding the numbers that make up each letter of his full name, Walter Paul Sparrow, to how many shoes Agatha has in their closet. Obsession begins to take over, and it’s then a wild goose chase to find out who Topsy Kretts really is… something that’s been buried for over ten years.

For those expecting another Jim Carrey movie full of laughs and jokes, this isn’t the place to look. Flooded with mind-boggling scenarios, twisted sexual fantasies, a dark obsession, and an overabundance of suicide and murder, The Number 23 isn’t a movie for children. While the plot moves a little too quickly for a person to be able to catch and process every detail necessary to understand the overall storyline the first time, it’s also a movie worth a second as well as third viewing. Jim Carrey truly stepped out of his comfort zone for this film, and it’s one decision that has certainly paid off in the end.

Be on the lookout for The Number 23 - it's already got its eye on you.

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