November 04, 2006
Jim Carrey in "The Number 23"

A few things jump out when viewing the trailer for Joel Schumacher's latest thriller. The first is, can we, as an audience, buy Jim Carrey in a role like this for nearly two hours? It's strange how, had the role gone to any of a number of typical thespians (Aston Kutcher and Eliza Dushku, let's say, rather than Carrey and Virginia Madsen), that no one would pay attention. And maybe no one is paying attention, but I have a strange desire to see this thing now.


Carrey reportedly has his own fixation with the number 23 and all of its signification. So he likely wanted to be a part of this script very much. He's also teaming up with Joel Schumacher here again, following their collaboration on "Batman Forever" in 1995. Carrey was also originally cast in the Colin Farrell role in "Phone Booth." So yeah, it makes sense that he's on board, but then again, it's got an undeniable odd quotient. Odd like Johnny Depp and Frank Langella starring in what would have been considered an otherwise rote thriller (and might still be considered as much by some) for Roman Polanski: 1999's "The Ninth Gate."


Carrey's career is going to be interesting for the next few years regardless, following the disintegration of various projects and his relocation of representation to CAA. All two years after giving arguably his best performance to date in "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." Interesting indeed.


WATCH THE TRAILER FOR "THE NUMBER 23"