Truman_Burbank

I was willing to give this promising movie a chance, but this was truly one of the most horrible movies I have seen in a long time. The story was incoherent and uninteresting, the visual style was a mess - 'just trying some things out' - and Griffin Dunne was really terrible as the main character. Talents of Douglas, Hopper, Walken, Turturro were absolutely wasted. I rememeber it being released with bad reviews, by now it has not aged well and it only got worse.

Not having a big budget was not the main problem in the production of this movie. It's the lack of talent and ideas that make it so extremely bad. The acting is so over the top that it becomes annoying after 30 seconds. The camera moves like a madman, thinking this is the way to make your movie look cool. The colors and lighting only add to the cheapness. The main problem is the story, which isn't one. It just drags along, one stupid fight after another. Not anyone in the theater was laughing even once.

And only for trying to make a rape scene funny, this movie deserves to be called worthless.

I'm fond of Jim Carrey, especially when he's NOT doing comedy. But what I saw him doing in this awful movie, can hardly be called 'acting'. But I don't blame him. This movie has no decent story to begin with. The script is an incoherent mess, a would-be psychological mystery that can only be entertaining for 14-year-olds and with the kind of formulaic twists that makes me fall asleep. Without spoiling anything: the book that sets everything in motion, is written by 'Topsy Kretts'. How clever is that? It takes the characters about half a movie to discover that that is not a real name! How stupid do the people who made this thing, think we are? Add the complete lack of style of Joel Schumacher and you get a movie that is bad in every way it can be. Mr. Schumacher plays with shadow and light, with colors and obscure locations, but he still is the king of kitsch and not the David Fincher he thinks he is. The man is simply one of the worst directors ever, who coincidental made some good movies, but mostly awful ones.

The Number 23 is a terrible, terrible movie and I never want to watch it again.