 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
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 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
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The Number 23
- Review Date: July 15, 2007
- R
- Genre: Thriller
- 2007
Common Sense Media says
Absurd, dark, and a miscast Jim Carrey. Yuck.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that this isn't a Jim Carrey comedy. It's a thriller in which suicides are epidemic (three characters take their own lives -- or try to -- in often-bloody detail). The surreal, MTV-style filmmaking unfortunately makes at least one of the suicide victims look like a gauzy Victoria's Secret model who's ready for a turn on the fashion runway -- not a good message to send. There's also a subplot about a girl who likes to have kinky, abusive sex. Other violence includes murder (usually offscreen) and the threat of murder; there's also some language and drinking.
What's the story?
Carrey plays Walter Sparrow, a happy-go-lucky animal-control warden (yes, it's impossible to get Ace Ventura: Pet Detective out of your head while watching) whose wife, Agatha (Virginia Madsen), gives him a birthday present, a secondhand novel called The Number 23. Walter fixates on the prose, which viewers see acted out -- with Carrey in the role of a tough-guy cop whose lover is into kinky sex at crime scenes and who discovers some sort of conspiracy centered on the numeral 23. Walter is shocked at parallels between the novel and his life, including street addresses, license plates, letters in names, calendar dates, room numbers, etc., all of which add up to 23. What makes it creepier is that the 22-chapter unfinished manuscript predicts that its 23-haunted hero will kill the one he loves.
Is it any good?
Attention, comic-book collectors. Somehow a story from an old horror comic escaped, shanghaied some decent actors, clothed itself in fancy computer-aided cinematography, and turned itself into a movie. Unfortunately, it wasn't one of the cool stories that made the comics' covers. It's more like one of the inferior ones in the back, near the bodybuilding and mail-order Venus flytrap ads, dashed off in a hurry to make the publishing deadline.
It's called THE NUMBER 23, and it marks a rare non-comedic (well, not intentionally comedic, anyway) role for actor Jim Carrey. Carrey has done credible drama before (in The Majestic and a few others), but he's really marooned here in pretty hopeless material that might have functioned in print.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about why Jim Carrey, known for slapstick comedy, would undertake a movie like this. What makes this movie a thriller? What's the difference between thrillers and horror movies? Families can also discuss the supportive message about the mentally ill that's hidden underneath the movie's gaudy, feverish visuals.
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AGE
Great movie!
Thought provoking, exciting, and dark!
Take your kids! Why not?
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Kid, 10 years old
June 10, 2009
AGE
SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO SO COMEDY
DONT BELIEVE THAT ITS SCARY ITS FUNNYER THEN THE MOVIE LIAR LIAR
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AGE
not that bad
This movie has a lot of violant killings and alot of people killing themselfs violantly. The language was not bad at all and I think this will be ok for kids 14+
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AGE
Unrated Review
Very Tense once you get into it, and carrey was great.
Sex: A lot of sex scenes in unrated, one breast
Violence - not much violence just blood
language - a few fwords and minor words
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AGE
Is there even a point??
This movie wasn't scary. It was just goofy, and my boyfriend and I rolled our eyes through most of it. It made no sense, and the language and sex were pretty bad. I wouldn't see it again.
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AGE
both rated and unrated ones are good.
Sex: R Version isnt bad. like CSM said its like in video games. The UNRATED one had a fairly LARGE amount of Sex. and they last for quite a while sometimes
Violence: i didnt notice much of a difference in the violence from the theatrical version to the unrated.
Language:the UNRATED has about 5 or 6 more f-words than the Theatrical Cut.
Drugs/alchohol: not much in eiter version
Comercialism: none. whatsoever.
social behavior: in the beginning of the movie all of the characters are normal (whatever that is) in the middle of the movie all of the characters are completely paranoid.
2/3=.666 the world spins on a 23.5 degree axis. 23 and 5=2+3. hitler killed himself april 1945 4+1+9+4+5=23. the hiroshima bomb was dropped at 8.15. 8+15=23. Jesus=64. 64/2=32 (23 backwards.) i LOVEDDDDDDDD both of the versions of this movie. after you see this movie you WILL start finding 23s everywhere. birthdays. execution dates. and lots more.
good ending. proves that family can pull you through anything and that you can change yourself from what you were in the past. 14+
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| Studio: | New Line |
| Director: | Joel Schumacher |
| Cast: | Jim Carrey, Logan Lerman, Virginia Madsen |
| Genre: | Thriller |
| Run time: | 85 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | February 22, 2007 |
| DVD release date: | July 17, 2007 |
| MPAA rating: | R |
| MPAA explanation: | violence, disturbing images, sexuality and language. |
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