Parents' Guide to

The Number 23

By Charles Cassady Jr., Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 18+

Absurd, dark, and a miscast Jim Carrey. Yuck.

Movie R 2007 85 minutes
The Number 23 Poster Image

A Lot or a Little?

What you will—and won't—find in this movie.

Community Reviews

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age 16+

Based on 1 parent review

CJ B.
CJ B. Parent of 2, 8 and 12-year-old
December 1, 2019
age 16+

Great scary/crime movie for adults.

I think movies about humans are better than movies about monsters and demons. It's a little cheesy at times and not entirely realistic, but it's interesting especially if you're interested in numbers or mental illness and crime stories.

This title has:

Too much violence
Too much sex
Too much drinking/drugs/smoking
See all 1 parent review

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?

Our review:
Parents say (1):
Kids say (8):

Somehow a second-rate story from an old horror comic escaped, shanghaied some decent actors, clothed itself in fancy computer-aided cinematography, and turned itself into a movie. Too bad 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.

Talk to Your Kids 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.

Movie Details

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