The Number 23

I saw "The Number 23" today, and for anyone not already familiar with the psychological premise: Jim Carrey plays a man whose life unravels after he comes into contact with an obscure book titled The Number 23. As he reads the book, he becomes increasingly convinced that it is based on his own life. His obsession with the number 23 starts to consume him, and he begins to realize the book forecasts far graver consequences for his life than he could have ever imagined.

This turned out to be better than I expected. I guess I would say it falls somewhere in the "not bad" to "above average" category however, keep in mind that I went in expecting very bad. I still haven't forgiven Joel Schumacher for "Batman and Robin" and my expectations were very low, so it was relatively easy to impress me. I will admit, Schumacher's direction, in this movie, reminded me more if his earlier films like "The Lost Boys" and "Flatliners" than some of his "I really need a paycheck" movies.

I thought Jim Carrey was very good in his portrayal but, unfortunately, people already see him as loopy so they probably won't see his performance as much of a stretch. Virginia Madsen was pretty much as she always is in my opinion: good but never a standout. I gave the movie bonus points because of the addition of Rhona Mitra. I had not known that she was part of the cast and I'm a fan of hers from "Boston Legal" and "The Practice."

All in all, I'm not sure that I would recommend a trip to the theater for this film but I fully believe it would be a more than adequate rental.