The Number 23 Critic Reviews

The movie looks terrific, and though it always keeps moving, it never feels headlong or rushed. This is a very good movie that could have been better still: Alas, the denouement is just a little off.Read the full review

The film's assaultive shock editing holds you, and so does its mystery, which is like "The Da Vinci Code" with insanity and violence in place of highbrow signifiers.Read the full review

The movie's premise, while not brilliant, is solid and could have been used to develop an edge-of-the-seat thriller with a genuine surprise or two. As it exists, however, The Number 23 feels perfunctory and is developed in such a way that few people are likely to leave the theater satisfied.Read the full review

The Number 23 is an inane numbers game pretending to be a suspenseful psychological thriller. Not only is it not frightening, it's downright laughable.Read the full review

Schlock can be fun, just not here. "23" is like spending more than 90 minutes watching somebody else complete a Sudoku puzzle. I know what you're thinking: No Sudoku puzzle should take more than 90 minutes!Read the full review

Despite the undeniable conviction of the performers, the film eventually becomes more laughable than chilling.Read the full review

Gimmicky numerology plus Jim Carrey minus narrative coherence equals "The Number 23," a visually and psychologically murky thriller that, given its hero's paranoid obsession with the titular number, plays like a very grungy episode of "Sesame Street."Read the full review

It's humorless save when it's laughable.Read the full review

There's a mess of things wrong with this suspense thriller. Start with the fact that it's neither suspenseful nor thrilling.Read the full review