On DVD: The Number 23

Directed By Joel Schumacher

Starring Jim Carrey, Virginia Madsen

Jim Carrey seems to really be mirroring Robin Williams with his career.  They were both really funny in their day but their brands of humor wore off and they proved they could do solid offbeat drama, Williams with The Fisher King and Carrey with The Truman Show.  Williams did of course have some comedy bright spots after The Fisher King but his best films from The Fisher King are either offbeat dramas or something other than comedy.  Now, Carrey went through a spell of weak films including The Majestic but made a fantastic comeback with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind and I guess he decided that offbeat films are the way to go for his career so he's back with another one. 

The Movie

Joel Schumacher really turned the geeks against him, and most of the mainstream public too, with his horrid approach to the Batman franchise.  For me he sort of disappeared after that franchise ended until the film Phone Booth.  Phone Booth was really what Schumacher needed, a small budgeted tight little film that forced him to make stylistic choices within his limitations and tell a story that is intriguing.  I was repulsed by, and therefore liked 8MM so I had high hopes for The Number 23.  I also liked The Lost Boys, so I think he can do horror.

Walter Sparrow (Carrey) is a disillusioned dog catcher who is turning 32.  He's happy with his wife and kids but there's an underlying depression within him.  On her way home for Walter's birthday his wife Agatha (Madsen) notices a bright red covered book in the bookstore and she snaps it up to give to Walter.  The book, called The Number 23, is a mystery novel about a hard boiled detective who becomes obsessed about the number 23 after he tries to save a woman from committing suicide due to her obsession about the number.

Walter becomes obsessed with the book at first, finding similarities to his own life and that of the main character in the book and then finding that the number plays an important part in his life.  Walter becomes obsessed with the number and begins to investigate the history of the book, even searching out the author.  The ensuing adventure is very surreal and it tries to be suspenseful, and eventually it becomes a fairly standard mystery built on some twists.  Now I'm not saying the film is bad because it definitely is not.  The problem I have though is that the film sets up some fairly interesting and deep ideas that it eventually tosses aside for the solution part of the mystery.  I'd have proffered a more ambiguous ending in favor of a deeper examination of the ideas set up in the film, something similar to a Jacobs Ladder would have been really interesting, the potential was definitely there.

Now, with that said the journey through the story is engrossing, full of style but not at the sacrifice of story, which is something that I was afraid of.  Carrey and Madsen get to really stretch their acting chops in this film by playing two completely different characters, the domestic husband and wife in the real world, and a hard boiled detective and sex addicted girlfriend in the fantasy world of the book.  Now, the book sequences are bit too music video but they do a good job of separating the real world from that of the book.  Something else I liked in the film is the use of color to propel the story forward.  Watch for the color red and how much more prominent it gets throughout the film.  Oh, I have to mention the use of the son in the film.  He becomes really involved with the investigation part way through and I was really bothered by that, until the film explains why and I thought that was a fantastic turn.

In the end the suspense elements didn't work for me.  I think these elements suffer due to the plodding pace of the film.  On the other hand, the surreal elements are even stronger due to the slower pacing.  If you go in expecting a mind bender you'll enjoy the film up to the end, but if you are looking for a horror film you may be disappointed.  I loved Carrey and Madsen in the film, I overall liked the stylistic choices, and as I said the journey through Walter's mind is fascinating even if the end doesn't quite pay off the ideas set up in the film.

8/10

The Video

The anamorphic transfer is really sharp with great color and deep blacks.  There's very little grain, other than the intentional variety that's apparent in some scenes.  Edges look great and detail is solid, even in darker scenes.

9/10

The Audio

This movie is a dialogue heavy affair but the use of the surrounds in a Dolby Digital 5.1 EX mix, while subtle, is well done and immersive.  The mix is a little off balance though with quieter scenes requiring me to turn my receiver up and louder scenes blowing my head off.  Dialogue, score, and effects are crisp and clean and nicely mixed in either the louder or quieter scenes, there's just a bit of a balance issue.

7.5/10

Packaging and Bonus Features

The single disc release cones in a standard amaray case with a slipcover resembling the beat up book he reads in the film.  I love this slipcover, it's artistic and it solidly represents the film.  The amaray case inside does feature a Carrey headshot taken from the original poster but with the slipcover on you only get a shot of his eyes through a tear across the front of the book design of the slipcover.  I know this design must have killed the marketing people who always seem to want the floating head of the star on the cover and on every other promo for the movie.

My feelings on the bonus features are mixed because this film carries the Infinifilm moniker which in the past ahs meant that we were in for a disc packed with bonus features and unique implementations of those extras.  There isn't as much here as I expected but what is here is pretty much all really interesting stuff.

The bonus features start off with a feature commentary from Joel Schumacher who displays a great deal of enthusiasm for the film and he shares some solid information on the film and behind the scenes of it.

Next up is a making of featurette simply called The Making of The Number 23.  The featurette is a standard run of the mill marketing short but it's good to see all the major players including Schumacher, Madsen, and Carrey.  There is a bit of interesting information about the inception of the film and some segments with the first time writer.

Creating the World of Fingerling is a brief look at the visual style of the scenes from the film that focus on the characters in the book.  The information is interesting but it's a bit too brief and thus feels incomplete.

There's a bevy of deleted and alternate scenes which are mostly unnecessary.  The most interesting of them is the alternate ending.  I actually quite liked the open ended feel  that the alternate ending sets up (I'll stop in order not to spoil).

So, let's get into the really interesting bonus features; The 23 Enigma and How to find your life path number.  I had no clue that there's this whole enigma around this number.  Apparently there are tons of people that have actually set up groups to discuss how the number effects their lives.  Mathematics professors, and a numerology expert discuss the importance of numbers in history, and even the beauty and art of :gulp: math.  These interviews really add a lot to the viewing experience of the film.  It speaks to how easily the number can be come so important. 

The final extra is a featurette broken down into several parts called How to find your life path number from another numerologist/author.  She goes into further detail about how numbers play a part in people's lives and how to find your "life path number" and exactly what that means.  In this featurette she explains in good detail about what the life path number means and how to find out what yours is.  You may find though, that from the information given you can't find out what your life path number is.  I found out from the "Numbers Lady" herself Numerologist Glynis McCants that the creators of the bonus content may have cut back her description and how to figure the numbers for every scenario.  She talks in the featurette about other numbers that are important too such as the "attitude number".  Finally she shows how to determine what other life path numbers you are compatible too.  I got curious so I tried to figure my number and based on what's on the DVD I couldn't get it.  If you have the same problem, or you get more curious head on over to www.numberslady.com and you'll find further information on the subject including links to her book.  At first glance numerology may seem like another form of astrology but it is based on science and a lengthy history.  In case you still aren't clear on what exactly what Numerology is here's a quote from Glynas McCants: "Numerology is a Science of Numbers that it is well over 2500 years old and the belief is that everything in the universe has a vibration, and  each vibration breaks to a number from 1 to 9. Each number has specific traits  attached to it that are
very telling.  This is the only true Infinifilm extra on the disc.  It takes an idea from the film a step further and adds more depth to that idea and shows how easily numbers can become so important to many people.

If you check it out by the way, and you wonder what my number ended up being, my life path number is 2 and my attitude number is 1.

There is one other extra, the unrated version of the film is available on the disc.  This amounts to about 3 additional minutes of footage that really shouldn't have been cut from the film because it wasn't too big a deal.

6.5/10

This is labeled an Infinifilm, so I'd like to have seen more in the way of bonus features, but what's here does offer some enhancement to the overall experience of the film.  The Number 23 may not be a success on all fronts, but where it does succeed it does so at a level that makes the film worth a look.

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

The Movie 8/10

The Video 9/10

The Audio 7.5/10

The Packaging and Bonus Features 6.5/10

Overall (Not an Average) 8/10

-Stephen Lackey