The Number 23 Critic Reviews

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

Despite the undeniable conviction of the performers, the film eventually becomes more laughable than chilling.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 film has its own grim fascination as an example of another kind of obsessive thinking -- the process through which a studio apparatus is brought to bear on developing an idea that defies development.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

How bad is The Number 23? It gives "Batman & Robin" a run for its money as the worst of the director's long career.Read the full review

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

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

Watching Carrey babble gibberish about the sinister nature of 23 in scene after hyperventilating scene isn't any more fun or enlightening than listening to street-corner lunatics discourse on similar topics. At least street crazies don't expect people to pay bloated movie-ticket prices for the privilege. And The Number 23 isn't worth a pocket full of loose change.Read the full review