The Number 23, 2.5 stars

Wow, what a hideous mess of a movie. Here is a movie that goes so completely to the side of "wrong" that it almost makes a full circle and comes back around to being gloriously, irrepressibly right. Jim Carrey plays dual roles, one as a mild-mannered dogcatcher whose life changes when he chases a dog into a graveyard one afternoon, and the other as the fictional detective hero of a story read by the dogcatcher character. Carrey attacks this as if it's an assignment from an acting class; he sets up the two characters as polar opposites of each other and refuses any actions which might hint that they have something in common. While this helps keep the film's big twist under wraps, it also robs both characters of their humanity.

It fails to rob them of their power to amuse, however. Walter, the dogcatcher character, finds himself obsessed by a book about the 23 enigma that he finds in a used bookstore. The author, incidentally, is named Topsy Kretts, and with a name like that I think it's unnecessary to issue a spoiler warning for what follows in my review. Walter gradually alienates his family and friends by obsessing over the number 23 and its permutations in his life. In the parallel storyline of the book Walter is reading, a modern noir-type detective antihero is watching beautiful blondes throw themselves out of windows to the accompaniment of painfully emo music. Walter eventually comes to the realization that the book was written by him about events he suppressed, including a murder he committed. Freed of his burdens, he cheerfully allows himself to be carted off to prison.

Plot summary cannot describe how campy and humorous this movie is. Director Joel Schumacher actually succeeds at creating some striking images within the parallel world, but such skill is immediately negated by Carrey's hilariously intense brooding over a saxophone while flaunting tribal tattoos. In the more mundane world, Carrey's attempts at acting retiring and unassuming (used to far better effect in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind") simply serve to make his histrionics when he finds out what he has done all the more humorous. This film was a notorious failure, but I enjoyed every minute. I was not bored even once and laughed aloud numerous times. The film's two-star rating, in fact, was gathered from an average of 0 stars and 5, since I still remain undecided as to whether this film is utter trash or some sort of perverse masterpiece.