Of all the reviews I've read about 23, this is the first to mention the alleged 'top secrets' this movie apparently doesn't deliver. Thanks for saving me the time and the money.

In many parts of the world, February 3 is written 3/2... so that's one "23" out of the way...

...used that circular pan in "Vertigo".

Not that i'm trying to defend anything Joel Shumacher ever did. I promise.

A meaningless unwritten plot littered with obtuse hints of nothing and peppered with random stupid unconnected events that come from nowhere and lead nowhere. It will make millions. It's exactly the movie for a generation of attention span challenged chattering monkeys. Never mind that Jim Carrey really isn't an actor. He's either Jim Carrey or he is the Depressed Morose Pensive Guy. Never mind that it's shot entirely in that popular handheld dark hypercontrast weird color style that supposed to mimic 'art'. Never mind that it doesn't make sense. Neither did Memento or Full Frontal or Adaptation. That's not the point. Being vague and 'arty-ish-like' that's the point. Throw in a hot chick or least an angry frustrated wife. Instant Movie.

I have an idea for a movie called The Number 3,888 (technically not my idea. I stole it from Kurt Vonnegut's Hocus Pocus).

I just need a thriller type plotline to make it thrilling!

What's so special about the Number 3,888?

Well, do you remember World War II? Do you remember the leaders involved?

Churchill Hitler Roosevelt Il Duce Stalin Tojo

Born: 1874 1889 1882 1883 1879 1884

Age: 70 55 62 61 65 60

Took

Office: 1940 1933 1933 1922 1924 1941

Yrs

in

Office: 4 11 11 22 20 3

Each column adds up to 3,888. Divide 3,888 in half and you get 1944, the year World War II ended.

And do you want to know what else is so thrilling?

Take the first letter of each leader, put it together (this will take significant brainpower from the audience) and you get the name of our Lord and savior!

Now I need a story...I mean plotline that weaves around these cosmic numbers. And if its successful, maybe Hollywood will do a remake or reimagining.

It's Oscar gold!

Is management's 15% cut of the number of the beast.

At least I now understand what I had previously taken to be a very strange commercial for Dr. Pepper.

Never mind that it doesn't make sense. Neither did Memento or Full Frontal or Adaptation. That's not the point. Being vague and 'arty-ish-like' that's the point. Throw in a hot chick or least an angry frustrated wife. Instant Movie.

I'm with you on Full Frontal and Adaptation, but Memento? Not! If you watch carefully and pay attention, Memento has one of the most innovative plots in Cinema history. Watch it again!

Are you sure you're being fair with this review? No chance you just totally missed the point? It sounds like you wrote a scathing review of a bad thriller, but what you saw was actually a comedy. Robin Sparrow? Fabrizia? Come on--this HAS to be a comedy.

23 was my high school basketball number. It was also Michael Jordan's number for a few years. Michael Jordan starred in the 2006 movie "Space Jam" with Wayne Knight. Wayne Knight was in "Jurassic Park" with Laura Dern. Laura Dern had a small role in 2001's "I Am Sam" starring Sean Penn. Sean Penn starred in 2003's "Mystic River" with ...

... KEVIN BACON!

Oh wait. I think I'm playing the wrong game here.

You don't need to be a genius to guess that as the gap between Walter and Fingerling narrows, the margin between sanity and madness also begins to shrink.

So basically this is very much along the lines of the concept that was explored just a few months ago in "Stranger Than Fiction".

(Except that Will Ferrell actually can act ...)

This movie kept me sitting on the edge of my seat.

so sorry to nitpick --

but WWII ended in 1945, not 44.

I have never seen a Jim Carrey movie. I believe this abstinance has improved my life quite a bit. I will have no trouble resisting this new piece of crap.

Ummmm.....World War II ended in 1945, not 1944.

Is it possible that this movie is so bad because Joel Schumacher is a hack and pretentious poseur? The next good movie he does will be his first. At the time I liked "St. Elmo's Fire" becuase I was about the same age as the characters and it felt kinda cool to have a film shamelessly suck up to me. Now I know what crap that movie was. It doesn't what Schumacher touches, it turns to shit. Snuff films, Batman, guys held hostage in phone booths, interesting legal potboilers, this guy can make them all bad and drain the blood from anything lurid. I learned a long time ago, if it says "A Joel Schumacher Film," run away, no matter how much you lik the actors or how compelling you find the subject. Words to live by.

OK. I'll give him a pass on The Lost Boys, which came out in, what, 1987? Hey! If he had waited just three more years, it would have been his 23rd anniversary of his only decent movie ever! That would have been three enjoyable and Schumacher-free years for me.

(Except that Will Ferrell actually can act ...)

-- Foobarski

Says you.

The whole 23 shtick was done nearly forty years ago, to much better effect, in the "Illuminatus" trilogy of books by Robert Anton Wilson and Robert Shea. Fnord!

"Is it possible that this movie is so bad because Joel Schumacher is a hack and pretentious poseur? The next good movie he does will be his first."

Did you not see "The Incredible Shrinking Woman"? I loved that movie! Granted, I was a child when I saw it, but still...

This looks like a great movie to me. I'll go see it for sure (maybe on DVD)...Jim Carrey is a genius.

Now I know that the number 23 plays a significant part in the plot of this film. Thanks again, Salon, for ruining another film with your reckless reviews.

fuck u this movie was great

Are there 23 scenes in the flick where this kid gets beat up after school by the local bullies? Of course, in fairness, the punches should be aimed at the 'rents for saddling their son with this hippy-dippy moniker.