Movie Report: The Number 23

This must be what happens when a screenwriter starts flipping through conspiracy Web sites on day three of a six-day coke and Red Bull bender.

Jim Carrey plays a dogcatcher with shaggy hair and a sad-sack smile. Loving wife, cute kid ... a pleasant bohemian existence. All this changes when he starts reading a "novel of obsession" about the Number 23. Soon the book, and the number, have taken over his life.

It's easy to find the number 23, or almost any other number, around if you look hard enough. It's like playing Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon -- if you think hard enough, you can make any connection. But they don't necessarily mean a damn thing.

Twisty and enjoyable enough, but not execeptional. The production looks good with a muddy palette of reds, browns, creams and blacks. The numerous "23's" you can catch in the backgrounds are a nice touch. The acting is all pretty good -- Carrey knows how to play the crazy -- but script tends to patronize. Conspiracy-lite.

The book's final secret had me calling a bullshit, but the name of the "author"? I'm so stealing "Topsy Kretts" for a City of Villains character.

I found myself liking the Fingerling story-within-a-story sequences better than the main plot. Carrey pulls off the part of a tough-as-nails, sax-playing, sex-driven detective with a rakish charm, and the scenes have a nice, hazy-noir look. When the movie departs from this storyline to a more generic murder mystery, it starts to stumble.

Oh, and for those playing at home, I counted every 23rd word on Page 23 of the novel I had in my purse. Here's its secret message -- you tell me what it means. Bonus points if you can figure out what book it is.

"gesticulated time cycle trend says record for and with Phalanx with Crime"

Wait until cable.