Summing it up in exactly 23 words, "The Number 23" is a miscalculated thriller serving as a glorious example of idiotic filmmaking characterized by total absence of logic and suspense. Believers of the so-called 23 Enigma - the idea that all events are connected to the number 23 - might get a thrill out of this, but to everyone else, scarcely anything in this movie adds up.

For dogcatcher Walter Sparrow (Jim Carrey), the mystery of the number 23 begins as he dives into a puzzling novel his wife Agatha (Virginia Madsen) bought him for his birthday. The book shares its title with the movie, and tells of a bizarre murder investigation led by a spooky detective named Fingerling.

As he reads on, Walter quickly discovers that he and Fingerling have something terrible in common: everything in their life adds up to 23. He becomes obsessed with the idea that the book imitates his life, and starts to see 23 everywhere: his social security number, driver's license, birthday; even the day he first met his wife. It all adds up to the same number, 23.

With "The Number 23," director Joel Schumacher, whose previous films include "Bad Company" and "The Phantom of the Opera," has generated a strikingly nonsensical thriller overshadowed by plot holes of massive proportions. In all its shallowness and illogicality, the script by first-time screenwriter Fernley Phillips unceasingly sidesteps any form of suspense during the feature's 93-minute running time.

All the movie does is supply its audience with loads of peculiar dates and numerical combinations that, by fair means or foul, all add-up to 23. 

All the movie really does is oversupply its audience with loads of peculiar dates and numerical combinations that, by fair means or foul, all add-up to 23. The human body, for instance, is made up of 46 chromosomes, 23 from each parent. The Titanic sank on April 15th 1912 (4+1+5+1+9+1+2=23). Two divided by three equals .666, the number of the devil - you get the picture.

Sad to say, the filmmakers of "The Number 23" get lost in this excessive numerical trivia and fully forget to develop a coherent and compelling storyline. In a desperate attempt to create a stirring atmosphere, the movie simply switches between Walter's fixation on the number and the reading of his book (gloomy sequences in which Carrey also plays Fingerling). How original.

Jim Carrey, whose remarkably idiosyncratic performance in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" proved his capability of playing serious, mostly disappoints in his double role as unfunny animal control officer and tattooed detective. The outbreak of Walter's obsession with the number 23 is so rushed and void of credibility, it is almost comic again.

Mark Stevens's edgy editing supplies the movie with an overall gothic look - its only noticeable positive. Schumacher has a reputation of making movies with little depth and implausible action, but "The Number 23" even fails to have either of those qualities. With the right approach, this project could have ended up stylish enough to be worth considering.

Eventually, you don't have to be a math wizard to crack this frivolous puzzle, for the characters make such imbecilic and illogical decisions that not much of what you see adds up the way it should. The first page of Walter's novel reads: If anything in this book reminds you of yourself or anyone you know, stop reading immediately! Well, if only he stopped reading, we would have been spared this unnecessary cinematic disaster.

Grade: D