Premise: On his birthday, Walter Sparrow (Carrey), an amiable dog-catcher, takes a call that leaves him dog bit and late to pick up his wife. She’s browsed in a bookstore, finding a blood-red-covered novel, a murder mystery with numerology that loops constantly around the number 23. The story captivates Walter: he dreams it, he notices aspects of his life that can be rendered by “23,” he searches for the author, he stays in the hotel (in room 23) where events in the novel took place, and he begins to believe it was no novel. His wife and son try to help him, sometimes in sympathy, sometimes to protect him. Slowly, with danger to himself and to his family, he closes in on the truth.
Analysis: Pretty messed up movie! A dark, psychological experience that just seems to spiral more and more out of control and Carrey’s character begins to lose himself into the story. I found the jutaposition between the “real-life” Sparrow and the larger-than-life Fingerling to be both very dark and very entertaining…
Word of caution here, this is not a lighthearted movie… this shows the basic deterioration of a man’s mind as it tries to grasp both things that do not make sense and things that have been buried long and unfortunately not forgotten.
I am not a horror film fan, and this was not a horror film, so I was happy at least for that, (can’t really tell from the cover/movie poster. Very much a pshcyhogical thrill that, overall was a good movie, and while there were some lines and scenes that struck a cord in me, the overall movie only left a fading long term impression on me…
Lastly, I know that Carrey gets alot of crap about not being a serious actor, and has made strives to prove that he is, (including The Truman Show and a personal favorite, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind). This was a very dark role for Carrey, and he did quite well in my opinion, (I personally think he’s half-crazy as it is, so not much of a stretch perhaps for him 
Bottom Line: A psychological trip that’s… a trip!
Best Quote(s):
Title card: Be sure your sin will find you out. – Numbers 32:23
——————–
Walter Sparrow: There’s no such thing as destiny. There are only different choices. Some choices are easy, some aren’t. Those are the really important ones, the ones that define us as people.
Official Trailer:
IMDB Website: Click here
IMDB Rating: 6.2 out of 10
My Netflix Rating: 3 out of 5
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4 Comments
May 15, 2009 at 12:31 pm
I don’t have much time for movies, especially dark ones. Usually my son tries to drag me to movies with him. And invariably, I don’t like them (Dark Knight) or don’t much care one way or the other (Transformers).
I am a raving fan of Star Trek, however, even if they do break the first law of time travel (do no harm).
May 15, 2009 at 3:20 pm
You know, I have heard good things about Star Trek too… I’m so busy/broke though I will probably have to wait till it comes out on DVD
You probably notice most of my movie reviews are for recently released to DVD… not in-theatre movies… just for this reason.
Geez, who has the money these days to head out with the family and drop $25-30 on movie tickets, no me!
May 15, 2009 at 4:14 pm
You are absolutely right. Mostly there is nothing that I have to see right now. But to my 25 year old son, these are life and death decisions.
May 15, 2009 at 9:39 pm
LOL @ life and death decisions
Once in a great while there is a movie I would want to go see, but I usually suppress the urge and put the money on my electric bill… or something like that… how boring