The Number 23

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"...

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

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...

Aside from being impossible to follow, it was also completely boring...

The Number 23' is nowhere near as far-fetched as the movie's eventual outcome, which is so pat it makes you wonder if Phillips wasn't writing the script for a class assignment and was simply unable to continue after "Pencils down." The Number 23 is goofy, implausible, and funny in all the wrong ways...

What starts out as "Ace Ventura": Hex Detective mutates into a snaking noir with much paranoid numerologising as '23' pops up everywhere. The who-wrote-it revelation folds under scrutiny but it's fun getting there, Schumacher revisiting the brash stylistic tics of his '80s hit "Flatliners" with mucho gusto...

Oscillating between befuddled and psychotic, Carrey makes a convincing transformation from ordinary Joe to disturbed obsessive in a role that makes good use of his manic energy...