DVD Movie Review: The Number 23 Starring Jim Carrey

The Number 23 is an intense psychological thriller. This is not a popcorn flick, nor is it a light-hearted drama with which to relax. Headlining Jim Carrey, I never imagined the powerful drama that unfolds in The Number 23.

Jim Carrey stars as father and husband Walter Sparrow. Virginia Madsen plays Sparrow's wife Agatha. Walter and Agatha Sparrow's teenage son, Robin, is played by Logan Lerman. By all accounts, the Sparrows are a simple, happy family. Until, by a twist of fate Walter Sparrow opens a novel he can't put down and which will change his life forever.

Sparrow feels an unsettling connection to the novel, The Number 23. He begins to believe the author knows him and has written a book that parallels his life, despite some differences. Most authors dream of a reader drawn into their compelling writing. The Number 23 becomes a psychotic nightmare from which Sparrow cannot disengage himself. From dreams, to daily coincidences, Sparrow becomes tortured by the theme of the book that drove insanity, suicide and murder in the novel: the number 23.

Not only does he begin to see the number 23 every where he turns, but he becomes paranoid and obsessive about the number's meaning, and its influence in his own life. The enigma of the number 23 and its recurrence in his birthday, his name, and scientific formulas and information begin to taunt Walter, gnawing at his mind and conscious.

The movie weaves in and out of the written work, and the life of Sparrow, via dreams, imaginations, and insane coincidences. Sparrow eventually finds himself on the verge of becoming like killer about whom the book was written. His wife, Agatha, and son, Robin, try to intervene, but Carrey's character becomes driven, nearly unstoppable.

The movies climax is psychologically gripping and compels the viewer to see the story through. Will Walter become the novel's murderer, Fingerling? Will the tangled web of reality and fiction drive Walter over the edge? Will his family be able to reach Walter, or will his obsession control his life, and ultimately ruin it?