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The Freak's
Rating: D : Though your logic tells you it is crap,
like any good moviegoer you swallow disbelief for the film's
duration. Jim Carrey plays Walter Sparrow. Walter's wife comes upon
a strange novel in a bookstore and gives it to Walter for his
birthday. The movie follows Walter as he can't put the book down and
becomes convinced the author is writing directly to him. The power
of the number gets into Walter's brain and he slowly heads down a
frightening path of obsession and paranoia.
As a movie lover, there is NOTHING better than showing a film that
I love to friends and seeing them enjoy it. All good thrillers
result in moments in your moviegoing life like Bruce Willis being
dead, Kevin Spacey being Kyser Sose, etc... You need to have a
mystery to figure out throughout the film, only to be wrong at the
end but understanding of how the movie reached its conclusion. If
you can couple these requirements with a "no way" shouted from an
audience member, you have movie gold. The Number 23 had an ending
that you didn't see coming and didn't predict, but you just didn't
care. The ending doesn't fit the film. We are jerked around in a
state of confusion for an hour and half and you're left with a
"What?". As with many thrillers, the screenwriter most likely came
up with a great idea and pitched it to a studio exec who greenlit
the project without a real ending. As with most thrillers, the
ending encourages another viewing to make sense of it all. The
problem is that it is very tacked on and doesn't make enough
sense.
Joel Schumacher as a director has made
movie after movie that shows what he can do with stylized
storytelling. He'll always have a place in my heart for making
some beloved 80s films as The Lost Boys and St Elmo's Fire. I
still haven't forgiven him for the dreadful Batman and Robin movie
and he fails me once again with The Number 23. Perhaps the real
failure here is that the man has potential when given a good story
and this time he just didn't have it. The only reason the movie
isn't a COMPLETE failure is that Carrey does a great job with what
he has to work with. Anyone who buys into the 23 phenomenon
completely and loves Jim Carrey may actually enjoy the flick. For
the rest of you, find something else.
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