The Number 23 (15) <!-- none onestar twostar threestar fourstar fivestar -->

This fatuous literary thriller stars Jim Carrey as a family guy who starts reading the manuscript of an old detective novel called "The Number 23" and finds it overtaking his life, specifically its quasi-kabbalistic obsession with the number 23. Thoroughly freaked out, he begins to wonder if his wife (Virgina Madsen) is having an affair with their shrink friend (Danny Huston), and whether the author of the story, one Topsy Krett, is actually a pseudonym. (The latter takes him some time to figure out). While dozing through this nonsense you may wish to speculate on the number's real significance to this movie: possibly the IQ of its writer?