Number 23

While deciding what to watch on On Demand, I came across a really good selection. A few of my choices were about to expire, so I decided to go with The Number 23 over a couple of movies that I wanted to see more. When this movie came out in the theater I was planning to see it. However, it was panned pretty bad, so I figured I would wait until it came out on video. That was probably a wise choice. The movie is not as bad as critics made it sound, but it probably wasn’t worth the price of a couple tickets. Note: This review will contain no more than minor details regarding the plot.

The Number 23 is a suspenseful movie that really keeps you guessing. The movie plods along, sometimes slowly, as it builds the suspense. I was a little concerned near the beginning of the film, but as the movie progressed it picked up a little bit of steam. The flow of the movie was smooth even though it was bogged down at the beginning, and tied together the plot nicely at the end. I was pleasantly surprised with this movie in totality.

The Number 23
In a nutshell, without revealing any plot details, this movie centers around a man’s obsession with the number 23. When you watch this film you may be amazed at how many concrete examples of the number 23 exist. One interesting one related to this film: The Director Joel Schumacher was involved in twenty-two film projects prior to this one. Making this one, literally, Number 23.

As I mentioned, the pace and dialogue were a bit slow near the beginning of the film. I don’t know if that was intentional, so I will chalk it up to artistic expression. However, I think they should have increased the pace of things just a little bit at the beginning of the film. The dialogue was sharp and interesting, and not a lot of words were wasted. Some of the examples that were given in support of the premise of the film were a stretch, but there were numerous examples that supported the theory that this film is based upon. I was actually very surprised at the breadth of examples that were provided. A great deal of research went into this part of the film and it showed. The dialogue was rich yet natural. There was enough ambiguity to keep you guessing at the outcome. The storyline was actually brilliant. I liked the concept. It wasn’t entirely fresh, but it was a unique take on story telling. I enjoyed the writing immensely. The writer, Fernley Phillips, was also a co-producer on this film.

Read More About The Number 23