the goodcarrey be good actor and he prove it in man on the moon and in eternal sunshine of the spotless mind . but hey and what can an actor do without good story and proper directing . he can do number 23. the bad joel schumacher be poor and overrated director and he prove it in almost every movie he make . what he do with batman be just disaster and but probably batman movie suppose to look good . well and they do not . instead of gothic and macabre we get disneyland . sure fall down be great but can you ruin the film with robert duvall and michael douglas and with excellent script . no you can not . and so good actor and poor director finally meet and make number 23. the ugly ( 23 ) i know that it stupid to begin with but . fingerling subplot ( almost half of this movie ) look exactly like intro to another chapter of max payne2 . voiceovers and quality of detective story itself and quality of the character and even color and mood and music and editing and and sound mix too . perhaps it work for the game and but surely it doesn not in the cinema . mise en scene be so bad that it become funny . it not even annoy . carrey read walk down the stair in park . why . be it natural . no and but it look good . why suicide blond cover wall in her apartment with white paper . if she just want to kill herself . there be no logic in that and but still it look good . guess what it and it doesn not look good at all . it look unnatural instead . all female character be flat . why be that so . who care and let go on with the story . who be this fingerling . private eye on the suicide . hardly believable . scene when walter sparrow be argue with his wife about weather book be really about him could be the best part of this movie . instead we get moulder or scully routine . disappointment . interior have no sign of people live in them and except the significant object ( shoe and photo etc . ) hard luck . dialog ain not that bad . but what about v. o. well that another story . there no such thing a destiny . there be only different choice . captain obvious to the rescue . number be come after fingerling . and now it be come after me . cliché . and so on . it obvious that average housewife would break into public building in the middle of the night . successfully and undisturbed . the subplot of the dog drag main character to the graveyard . this be so old trick and so comfortable for writer and and that it should have be ban . i mean it . flashback and edit similar to what happen in last episode of x file isn not the best way to present the most interesting part of the movie . be it . i wish i could say that this story deserve a good fate and but it doesn not . it make no sense . tell in chronological order be weak and unbelievable . all the time we have undeveloped character trap be chain of situation which be nothing but badly write fiction . this could be fun and but since whole movie be dead serious it isn not . to many coincidence be just bad for every story . and the mystery . it predictable and easy to guess . lose touch with reality be great theme for good movie and but i never saw any of that in hollywood production . if youre interest in the subject just watch repulsion by polanski or something by david cronenberg and spider or a history of violence both of that movie deal with similar problem that number 23 want to show . want and but fail .