#23

I watched the Number 23 the other day because when I saw the previews for it in the theater it seemed intriguing. I have also always been interested in Jim Carrey's abilities to play different kinds of roles outside of Ace Ventura and other slapstick stuff.
This is a movie of obsession and paranoia that drives the person crazy. Carrey plays a pet control guy who goes after a dog that gets away from him. This makes him late for picking up his wife who while waiting wanders into a bookstore called something like "the book of fate" which of course is kind of foreshadowing. Her eye is caught by a red book on the shelf in the back with the same name as the movie. The author? Toppsy Kretts. She reads the book and when Carrey gets there she tells him to buy it and read it. He laughs it off but does so anyway. This begins the tale.
From then on he can't seem to get it out of his mind. He wants to keep on reading, and the obsession begins as he seems to identify with the narrator. So many parallels make him wonder and begin to dig through his past. He also notices that the number 23 really does show up everywhere like in the book. His birthday, SSN, the house #, all of them either have the number in it or add up to it.
I could keep going but it would take too long to recap the movie. The obsession drives him crazy and makes him paranoid as he dreams of himself killing his wife or that he is being taken advantage of. It is an entertaining movie as it shifts between Fingerling--the character in the book--and the real Jim Carrey. It is a little surprising at how many things contain the number twenty-three but when you think about it really is inconsistent. They sometimes add numbers up, sometimes you reverse them, sometimes you are dividing or multiplying. Basically, if you look hard enough you can find a way to make almost anything add up to 23.
Also, the movie ends with Jim Carrey saying that it is just a number as if to explain it all away and that he is over his obsession. Yet the whole movie is tied together on fate. He was destined for what happened to him. The reason his wife finds the book is that he was late. The reason he was late was because the dog delayed him. The dog was witness to his murder. So, what really is the point of the movie? It seems as if it is clarified at the end when the scripture verse Numbers 32:23 is shown which reads: "...and you may be sure that your sin will find you out." Yet that contradicts with how the narrator concludes. Only leaving us with questions.
I liked the way the movie is shot. Its very cool and artsy and dark. In the least it was entertaining, but I don't know if I would recommend it.
I felt dumb when I realized what "Topsy Kretts" really meant. Sounds a lot like Top Secret(s). Duh.